Fast Car
by Twisting Demon
Summary: Blake decides to take a trip down memory lane to the places and events that have shaped her life, with Yang behind the wheel of a fast car. In these places she reassesses who she is, what she's done, and what she is to become. Due to the events of the Season 3 finale, the remaining chapters have to be rewritten to maintain some canonical continuity. Update by the end of the month.
1. Fast Car

"Now, Mr. Arc, I should myself bid you farewell and let the two of you speak. There's still the fallout of this entire incident the school as to deal with, though that is nothing you should worry about at this point. Just get some rest, both of you. We'll be back later."

Nodding to Jaune, the Beacon Headmaster quietly exited the hospital room. Outside the room, waiting impatiently, were the blond and brunette members of Team RWBY. Yang was effectively banned from entering Ruby's room due to her outburst in the operating room waiting area after hearing that the trauma surgeon was still on his way back to the hospital. The ensuing scuffle saw some medicine vials and at least one IV stand getting broken in the process. The hospital offered to let the incident slide for as long as Yang won't be allowed into the room while Ruby recovers. She begrudgingly accepted, knowing that her sister was in good hands.

"Sir… um… how's she doing?"

"She's still unconscious but doing fine. Exactly the same as she was when you asked me 20 minutes ago."

Ozpin was good at hiding sarcasm, so his mild annoyance flew over the usually upfront and in-your-face Yang. Blake however was the type who easily read people and gave Yang a light thud to the side with her elbow. Yang was uncharacteristically mellow.

"Anyway don't fret. Jaune's looking fine, so there's going to be at least 1 person you can trust in that room at all times. I think it's time to let Weiss get some rest."

Just a few minutes ago an exhausted Weiss was being helped by Pyrrha down the hallway and into the elevator. She had been at Ruby and Jaune's bedside since Ruby got out of surgery, probably with little or no sleep. She had been swapping duties with Pyrrha, but she insisted to be there longer than Pyrrha does. Blake had decided to stay out with Yang to keep her calm. Nora and Ren were the ones in charge of ferrying food and information for them to and from the hospital.

"I see… thanks."

"It's okay Yang. Vale's best surgical team did their work. Just give Ruby enough time to rest and heal."

Blake gave a Yang a light pat on the back. Yang felt surprised by this gesture as Blake was never really the touchy-feely type, and usually shied away from physical contact.

"The two of you head back to Beacon and check on Ms. Schnee. When you're done…"

Ozpin looked to his left and right through the empty hospital hallways.

"Meet me in my office. There is… something important we need to discuss."

Yang and Blake could barely blurt out a question when Ozpin shooed them out of the hall and into the elevator. On the way down there was an air of awkward silence between as Blake fiddled with her ribbon and Yang leaned back on the elevator. Both were definitely thinking about what Ozpin wanted to tell them. Reaching the ground they hailed a taxi and headed back to Beacon.

"Blake… you think this is about…"

"Most likely. We were at the center of both incidents and we haven't given our complete debriefings yet. I'm sure he just wants to clarify everything that happened down there."

The usually pokerfaced Blake tried to hide the sense of worry in her voice. Like other Faunus she had heightened hearing and eyesight, as well other "senses" outside of the five. This sense of hers kept biting in the back of her mind, unable to let go of Ozpin's words in the hospital. This sense only got worse when they passed by the site of the first Grimm breakout, when the train they were on crashed through the old unused tunnels snaking under Vale. There was still some rubble being picked up by cleanup crews. Construction was still ongoing on the nearby damaged buildings. The sight of the damage served to increase the sense of foreboding that something was wrong.

And that it involved her.

The ride from the hospital to Beacon took all of about 30 minutes. Being a weekend, there were fewer students about the campus with students either in the city or gone home visiting. It was however strangely quiet, with only very few people around the campus. Much more, Blake noticed that all the people they encountered were humans. She did not notice a single Faunus around. It was strange, as most Faunus tend to congregate during the weekends since most of them stay behind in campus.

Blake and Yang strolled through the grounds towards the dorms, passing in front of the main statue. Blake, eyeing the statue, pauses as Yang continues to walk. Yang eventually notices and looks back at Blake, still standing in front of the statue.

"You… you go on ahead to the room. I'll be there in a minute."

Yang, sensing that Blake wanted to be alone, nodded and headed off alone. Blake stood in front of the statue in silence, looking over the male and female forms standing in triumph. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Things will change. I will change. One day I'll move on and forget."

Blake spoke to herself under her breath. Gathering herself, she continued on towards Team RWBY's dorm room. She could hear voices from behind the door.

"Get back in bed princess!"

"I-I'm not some kid! I'm fine! Get off me!"

Blake enters to a scene involving Yang trying to force Weiss in her bed. Such antics are normally between Weiss and Ruby, but with Ruby out of action, her sister was taking over. Eventually Weiss stopped struggling after Yang started smothering her and she lay back down in bed.

"Just get some rest okay? Look… thanks. Thanks for looking out for my sister after her surgery."

"You'd be in the room too if you didn't try punching that nurse in the gut."

Blake quipped as she entered the room. Yang got up off Weiss and sat down on her bed as Weiss positioned herself under her sheets.

"You doing okay Weiss? Need anything?"

"I'm fine Blake. I can take care of myself."

Weiss let out a loud yawn as soon as she finished that sentence. Her pale white face grew red as she hid herself under the sheets. Yang and Blake broke into laughter for a few seconds.

"Well whatever you want princess. Just get some rest. We'll be in the headmaster's office. Probably about the last few operations. We'll be back in a while."

Blake and Yang headed for the door as Weiss spoke from underneath the sheets.

"Thanks… guys."

Yang looked back and flashed a smile at Weiss as she closed the door behind her. Both girls walked through the dorm towards the main administration building. Getting on the elevator, Blake still couldn't help but feel some worry in the back of her mind, and this finally showed enough on her face for Yang to notice.

"Blake, I'm sure were not being called up here to get chewed out."

"I'm not worried about that. It's just… remember how I used to say that sometimes I just get this feeling that something wrong's about to happen? Well this is one of those times, and it feels..."

The air between them got heavy pretty quick as the elevator finally reached the top floor where the headmaster's office was. On entering the office, they saw Ozpin on his chair, facing out the windows, with a mug in his left hand. He spoke without turning around.

"Good morning again, Ms. Xiao Long and Ms. Belladonna. Please, have a seat."

The two quickly took a seat in front of his desk. In contrast to their usual demeanor, Yang was calmly seated while Blake looked visibly uncomfortable. Ozpin turned around, put his mug down, and pulled out some papers from his desk.

"I'm going to be blunt. I'm sure you noticed that there are relatively fewer students on campus right now. You've also noticed that there are almost no Faunus around the grounds."

Ozpin made a quick passing glance at Blake, enough for her to notice but not Yang. Blake felt a heartbeat jump into her throat.

"While the recent Grimm incident in which the two of you were part of was miniscule for a Grimm attack, it greatly shook the confidence people have in Vale's ability to secure the city."

Team RWBY had long suspected that the White Fang's attempt was simply too small to really succeed, and that they had other goals in mind. Ozpin's words confirmed their suspicions.

"The attack fueled paranoia in some parts in the city, especially in the more politically affluent sectors. With the White Fang confirmed to be behind the attack, there has been… increased suspicion around the city regarding the Faunus."

Blake clenched her fist in anger and frustration. As usual, she simply held her emotions in. At this point had started to notice just what was going on with her.

"That's not all… Coffee?"

Ozpin took out 2 cups from under her desk and poured for the two girls. Yang quickly chugged down the steaming hot drink while Blake took a few sips before setting her cup down."

"You remember that other incident regarding the central communications tower right? The night of your school party where Ruby chased down someone who broke into the central hub on the top floor?"

Ozpin took a big sip of coffee as he worked his way to his point.

"At about the time the rescue operation was ongoing, copies of the school registry were being leaked in certain forums of the Vale city intranet. They were being leaked on sites known to be frequented by those with… radical views regarding Vale citizenship…"

The light from Blake's eyes nearly emptied as she connected the dots of Ozpin's story. It was obvious enough for both Ozpin and Yang to notice as Blake nearly slumped on her chair.

"The list, specifically, was of all the Faunus who are currently enrolled in Beacon. Suffice to say… the school is now receiving backlash from these radical humanist groups and concerned citizens that we are somehow… involved in this debacle."

"THAT'S A LIE!"

Blake stood up and banged her fists on Ozpin's table, surprising Yang who stood up to try and calm her down. Ozpin however remained unfazed.

"I know it is Ms. Belladonna. I know."

"Calm down Blake! If anyone should be running wild in this room it's me."

"I… I know. Sorry."

Yang helped Blake sit back down as Ozpin continued.

"I've decided to let the Faunus students take the next few days off while the school tries to do some public relations control over this. Eventually when they find that our students are no way involved, this issue should all blow over. In your case however, Ms. Belladonna… as to the reason I called you here."

Ozpin put his hands together, rested his elbows on his desk and placed in face firmly between them. Blake already knew what he was going to say.

"Rumors are circulating that you were once a member of the White Fang, rumors that members of the staff know to be true and that you have confirmed yourself. However for the rest of the populace…"

"I'm no longer with those… people."

"Yes I know, but others won't be as forgiving. Some people outside the school already know and we're trying to limit the spread of this information. So for the time being…"

Ozpin turned around on his chair and faced the window to the outside.

"The other Faunus students are instructed to remain in their dorms for the next few days. In your case, due to your previous affiliations… I'm going to have to ask you to take greater measures to keep out of the public eye. That is to say… I'm going to have to ask you to leave the city for a while."

Yang and Blake just stared at Ozpin with dumbfounded looks as he turned around to face them again. Ozpin actually smiled at them.

"You're not expelled mind you. Vale is currently dealing with the Grimm and White Fang scare and we're trying to keep our Faunus students safe. As long as you're in the city there will be those who will try to find you and expose your secret. It would be safer for you to leave Vale for a while before these people find out where you are."

"But… but where will I go?"

"Don't worry. We will provide the transportation and travelling expenses. You are free to go anywhere and do anything you want, as long as it is outside the city. It's the least we can do."

"I… I understand…"

Blake's dejected look stayed with her all the way back from the headmaster's office to their dorm room. Back inside they found Weiss sound asleep with the lights still on. Blake climbed back on her bed to lie down and think.

"Blake… you okay?"

"Yes… no… I don't know."

Blake sighed under her breath as she tried to comprehend everything that had just transpired. She stared blankly at the ceiling, thinking about Ozpin's words and instructions.

"He's doing this for your sake, you know."

"Yes I know. I just… what am I supposed to do? Go around travelling? I don't exactly have anywhere I want to go."

"Well he's actually providing you with a car. A Krytia 450, of all things. Top of the line car, that one. The road's your own so do what you want!"

"That would be nice, if I knew how to drive."

"In that case you're lucky your partner's just as good behind the wheel of a car as with her bike!"

It took a few moments for Blake to realize what Yang meant. She immediately jumped down from her bed and confronted Yang.

"Wait what? You're coming too? But what about-"

"It's fine, it's fine. You're my partner and I can't exactly leave you alone with this. Plus…"

Yang looked over a soundly sleeping Weiss, who was likely too tired to be woken by the commotion these two were making. Weiss almost purred like a cat while she slept, having a smile on her face.

"Weiss is with her, so at least for what it's worth… she'll be in good hands. Anyway we should probably start packing. We leave tomorrow morning."

"I appreciate your concern but I really don't want to drag you into-"

"Like I said you're my partner. And besides…"

Yang looked back at Blake with a smile, as she piled some clothes rather haphazardly into one of her suitcases

"Ruby and Weiss would have done the same for you."

Blake smiled and sighed as Yang continued to stuff clothes into her suitcase. Getting irritated at the messy way she was packing, Blake ended up helping Yang pack her bags properly before she packed her own things. When they were done packing, Yang called the hospital and asked that they inform Jaune that they'd be out of town for a few days, and to tell Ruby if she wakes up before they get back. Blake called Ozpin's office and informed him that they've decided to leave early the next morning.

That evening at dinner, when Weiss woke up, they told her about what Ozpin had told them both. Weiss was initially apprehensive about the entire plan Ozpin came up with, but her resistance eventually faded when Yang unexpectedly asked her to take care of Ruby while she was gone. Yang was the overprotective sister type, so her request genuinely surprised Weiss. Weiss agreed to the plan and demanded that they be sure to check in at least twice a day everyday while they were out there.

As the evening came and went and the sun had again shone in the early morning, both girls went down to the Beacon underground parking garage. Their car was parked near the exit, a sleek black sedan with unassuming decals and a low profile height. Perfect for driving inconspicuously in the countryside. Yang revved the engine with the sweet sound of its 450 horsepower engine roaring and ready to go. With their bags and other gear packed in the trunk, it was time to leave.

"So Ms. Belladonna, where we off to?"

"Hmm… you've got the fast car. Right now… anywhere is fine."

With those words Yang and Blake rolled out of the garage. On the way out they could see the Beacon nearly empty, with only the human students up and about. Heading towards the main plaza they passed by the statue.

"Yang… pull over. Give me a moment."

Ever since she arrived at Beacon, Blake had the habit of standing in front of the statue at night whenever she had something on her mind. She was never the type who liked to talk about her past or feelings a lot, and looking at the statue alone always helped her calm down and think. Today was no exception.

"Things will change. I will change. I… need to decide."

Blake sat back in the car with a bit more resolve than she had since the talk with Ozpin.

"Yang, forget what I said."

Blake searched through the glove compartment and took out a map. Looking at it carefully she circled a few places around Vale. A few towns and villages and some in the middle of the wilderness.

"There are… a few places I want to visit."

"Sightseeing?"

"More like a trip… down memory lane."

After showing Yang all the places she wanted to go to, she folded up the map and programmed their next destination on her scroll.

"So Blake… ready to go?"

"You're the driver, let's roll."


	2. The End of Innocence

Atticus Exit in 60km

The green sign hung above a four-lane road going into the continental heartland as a sleek black car cruised past underneath. It was a relatively arid and hilly region littered with countless succulent plants and the occasional passing tumbleweed, having a road snaking its way between the rocky earthen mounds. There were barely any cars on the road, save for a few quarry trucks carrying everything from rocks to well-contained Dust. The road itself was lined with some broken tires, a few abandoned pieces of furniture, the occasional animal skull and at least 1 freshly dead Grimm corpse. It was a generally boring drive for Yang, who drove for most of the way as Blake was a rather defensive driver and could only drive for an hour at a time before she gets tired. Tired enough that she was sleeping soundly on the passenger side, purring softly like a cat.

"Wake up Blakey!"

Yang rubbed her hand over Blake's head. The young Faunus slowly rubbed her eyes and stretched, letting the dry wind outside weave over her freshly woken face. The car windows were down in order to let air in and lessen the load on the car engine, which could easily overheat in the desert sun. Yang had ridden enough times in dry environments to know that having a breakdown in a place like this would pose big problems, as one wouldn't find an auto shop for miles. They had, in fact, stopped a few times to check and refill he radiator to make sure.

"… *yawn*… sorry… we're close?"

"Less than 60km to go. We should be there in less than an hour."

Blake looked outside. They had been driving for about 5 hours already, having some of the lunch they packed in the car as there were no stops to be had to have a proper sit-down meal. It was 1pm with the sun just past its apex. The heat sweltered outside as Blake stuck her head out to have a better view of the surrounding lands. She breathed in as much air as she could, air much cleaner than the somewhat polluted air in Vale. The area was in fact a comparatively safe place to go out on unbeaten tracks, as being a mining area it was well patrolled by hunters and troops alike. For her, it felt like nothing much has changed.

"So… what's in Atticus?"

Blake sat back on her seat, her face looking towards the horizon in the distance.

"Nothing really. Just… the place where I was born."

"…"

Yang had decided that, with the look on Blake's face having one of relative disinterest, it was better not to pry any further. It was obvious that it wasn't something she wanted to talk about right now. Blake was the silent type, but was always willing to talk when she felt the time was right. For the time being, silence filled the car with Yang concentrating on the road and Blake staring off in the lands beyond as she reflected on the sights, sounds and smells of the place she once called home.

Within the next 30 minutes the car had made its exit, heading into what amounted to a mining town that looked somewhat larger than the typical mining town out in the wilderness. On entering the town through its paved but cracked and dusty streets, Yang felt like she went back in time. The houses were somewhat rickety constructs made of wood and stone with chimneys bellowing black soot. Almost all the men either held scrolls or the typical pickaxe that so characterizes miners. The women wore rather old-fashioned dresses that clashed with the hi-tech scrolls they were using. It was a glaring clash of the old and the new in a town that embraced technology while living in the style of the past.

This was the place where Blake was born.

Blake pointed them towards a small stone building near the middle of town that read "Visitor's Centre." It was a dusty but air-conditioned facility filled with mining tools on display, countless pamphlets about the history of the mining town and and even an old mining cart. At the information counter was a bell and a plaque that indicated the Schnee Company's ownership of the mines. Behind the counter was a an old man with a long beard reading a magazine. His hands were full of callouses and cuts, indicating he was most likely a miner in his younger days. He appeared too preoccupied with his magazine to notice the two girls.

"Excuse me? Sir?"

The old man put down his magazine and saw the young brunette looking at him. He spryly sprung back to his feet like a man half his age.

"Well lookey here haven't had a visitor in ages! You guys here for the mine tours?"

"Nope sorry. I'm here to visit a friend. She... She used to live around... Obsidian Lane I think? Is that place still around?"

The old man's right eyebrow twitched slightly at Blake's words.

"Obsidian lane huh... No one's lived there in... More than ten years I reckon. You sure that's where she lives? Nothing but old run down houses there. That place has a... History no one really likes to talk about."

"I haven't seen her in ages so I thought she'd be here. Wouldn't hurt to take a look."

"Well if you're set on going there, take the first left off the main road going down the opposite side of town, up the small hill. When you see the broken houses you'll know you're there."

"Okay. Thank you... Mr Crim."

The two bowed to the old man who tipped his hat at them as he went back to his magazine. Blake said the old man's name so softly that neither he nor Yang heard it.

"So Blake let me guess... Your old house?"

"Yeah..."

"But why would that place be-"

"You'll see."

Blake played up her poker face as the two got back into the car. On the way there Yang couldn't help but point out an observation that's been bugging her since they arrived.

"Blake... I just noticed but I haven't seen a single Faunus in the town..."

Blake sighed as she looked out the window, seeing a group of kids playing cops and robbers in an open field.

"Twelse years ago... There was an incident here involving the Faunus... But it would be better if I just showed it to y- hey wait!"

Passing by an old tree by the main road, Blake gestured for Yang to stop. Blake rolled down the window and looked towards the tree. The tree itself was so old it looked almost dead, with large crooked branches holding very few leaves. The leaves it did have were more yellow than green. It's trunk bore innumerable marks and scratches likely made by people over the years, so much that the bark had started to flake off.

"... Okay... Let's go..."

"Blake?"

"I'll tell you when we get there."

Yang let it slide as they approached the exit towards Obsidian lane. As they drove up the hill on a paved road that was so broken down it was more dirt than asphalt, Yang has started to see what the old man talked about. Both sides of the road were lined with either decaying husks of homes or complete piles of rubber. Each lot was overgrown with whatever was the equivalent of weeds in a desert, with various brown and green colored vines snaking around every crevice, broken beam and busted water pipe. The area was cluttered with broken bicycles, lawn mowers and a few cars. As the old man said, no one had lived on this road for years.

"This was the place where the Faunus in the town lived. This was where I was born and lived the first 5 years of my life."

Yang drove slowly, trying to let the reality of the place sink into her. She had always imagined Blake to be more of a city girl. She had a difficult time imagining that Blake lived almost in the middle of nowhere when she was a kid. Blake gestured her to stop about 10 houses down the road, in front of a broken down house that appeared larger than the rest. In comparison, the house looked less dilapidated than the others. It was a 2 storey house with a white paint finish that was now grey and black. The windows were broken and the porch above them had collapsed from the wood rot.

Blake got out of the car first and, surveying the area around her, took a deep breath before stepping up to the broken down porch. The floorboards creaked under her as she opened the crumbling door.

"I was born in this house, to a father who was a mine foreman and a mother who was a home maker. I was an only child."

They stepped into the kitchen littered with with rusting post and pans. A foul smell emanated from the refrigerator. On the breakfast table were 3 sets of plates and utensils, each with a pile of what appeared to be uneaten food that had completely rotted ages ago.

"Every morning we'd eat here before my father would go to work at the mines owned by the Schnee Company. My mom... She would kiss him goodbye after he patted me on the head. I would take my bike and go down to school. Heh... I guess you could say I lived a typical kid's life back then."

Exiting the kitchen they headed for the living room. Inside was a long broken TV with assorted family pictures on a shelf above it. The photos were fading but, taking a few of them by hand, she could still make out the faint images of her parents and her child-like figure. The rug in the room was all moth eaten and the couch was now more of a plastic frame than an actual couch.

"One day... My father came home early. Said something about how the Faunus workers were sent home early and that the human workers would clean up. Me and mom didn't really think about it much since he still looked as exhausted as he usually did. Plus it was raining that hard so we all went to bed after dinner..."

The two girls headed upstairs. The first room on the right had s small bed with a deflated and perforated mattress. The wallpaper had all but peeled off revealing the worm-eaten walls. On one corner was a old table and a broken mirror. On another corner a small cabinet with children.s clothes shredded clothes. In the middle of the room, a stuffed lion. Parts of the lion were ripped open with the stuffing hanging out. The left eye was torn off and part of the right ear was torn in half. The old thing was completely covered in dust. Blake stared at it for a while before picking it up and dusting it off.

"The next morning, during breakfast, a bunch of people drenched in rainwater that looked like my father's co-workers barged in the house screaming. Something about how some miners were locked down in the mine when the mine's water pumps were sabotaged. The men... They drowned. Only humans, no Faunus, because they all got sent home early that day."

The two headed back down the house, the steps still creaking loudly as they descended. Coming back out to the front porch, Blake gazed somewhat lifelessly at the other houses down the street.

"The men... They dragged my mother and father out the house. I tried to stop them but one of the men... He hit me with his club. All I could do was crawl my way out of as they trashed and smashed the house. Everything you saw... That was all their doing."

The two of them walked back to the car as Yang could barely even begin to comprehend the story that was being told to her. She could tell it was a story few people knew, and even fewer had the chance to be told from the girl herself.

"When I made it out of the house all I heard were screaming. Shouting. Crying. My neighbors... Like my parents they were being dragged out of their homes across this street. Children clinging to their parents. Houses being ransacked and some even looted. I... I saw one couple... They were shot in the head in their driveway..."

Blake closed her eyes as as a tear dropped down her left cheek.

"They... We were all dragged and stuffed on the trucks that were used to ferry mining equipment. We were driven down the hill in the middle of the downpour. I was with my parents. You could barely see 5 feet in front of you in the rain. It was on the way down that my mom... She pushed me off the truck and told me to run. Run. Run away and don't look back."

The two girls got back in the car. Blake was now more or less calm and Yang was still trying to digest what she was hearing.

"Could we go back to that tree near the center of town?"

"Yeah... So um... What happened next?"

The car slowly rolled down the dusty road to the base of the hill. Blake didn't even bother looking back.

"It took a while before I managed to get down the hill under all that pouring rain. I was still in my pyjamas and I was barefoot. When I got down I tried to sneak into town. I could see it. I could see some bodies at the fork in the road leading to Obsidian lane. Men, women, children. All Faunus. All dead. Some shot in the head. Some beaten so bad you couldn't recognize their faces. But... I did. I could tell."

Blake's voice trailed off as they passed that fork in the road. There was nothing there. No markers. No graves. Nothing. As if what had happened there was completely forgotten. Nothing to remember it by.

"I made to the center of town in the middle of the rain. It was there that I saw it. Two figures in the darkness, hanging with nooses on their necks. Like common criminals. And around them a mob. Shouting. Cursing. Some of them drinking and laughing. Like they had succeeded."

The two had arrived again at the tree.

"Blake... This tree..."

Blake walked towards the tree and, touching it's bark and placing her forehead on the trunk, knelt in front of it.

"Yeah... It was here..."

"How... How could they... Those fucking monsters!"

"Stop!"

Blake turned around to see Yang's hair go all golden red and her gauntlets locking and loading. Blake dashed for her arms and gave Yang a hug.

"Don't. Just don't okay."

"But they killed your parents. Faunus for God's sake!"

"I know. Nothing anyone could have done. They blamed the mine incident on us. Almost 50 humans died and no Faunus. No one really knew what had happened, if it was an accident or really sabotage. All i knew at the time was that the town took it out on us. Maybe i was too young to understand but... Yes I was angry and I was sad and everything. A whole torrent of emotion."

Yang revved up the engine as they began to drive back towards the visitor's center.

"I was 5 years old. Anyone would have started to hate but... I couldn't. Maybe because I was 5 and too young to know what it was. Maybe because I didn't want to. I didn't really know but even after all this time... I still don't harbor... Any hate. For any of them."

They passed by the visitor's center on the way out. The old man was locking up and getting ready to head home.

"Hate. The fact that you didn't, or couldn't, makes you a better person than all of those men. Combined."

"Yang..."

"Blake... I might be the last person who should be telling you this, given what people say about me and my temper but... I think you should..."

Yang rolled down the car windows and let the cool afternoon air inside. She hung her other arm out the window as she put the car on cruise control.

"My mother once told me, before she disappeared, that anyone can hate, but only few can forgive."

Yang made a loud sigh. This surprised Blake who looked at her. Surprise at the uncharacteristic sigh and the words of wisdom one doesn't really expect from Yang Xiao Long.

"I won't pretend to understand or feel what you've been through. I can however tell that it still weighs a lot on you and-"

"Yang, I have."

"What?"

The car drove back onto the exit and back to the main road. They were no heading back into the highway towards their next destination.

"I already have. A long time ago."

Blake flashed a reserved smile at Yang.

"Heh. Now that's the Blake I know. So... Off to the next stop?"

"Yeah. If we hurry we should make it there by night time. It shouldn't be too far. And... Yang?"

"Yeah?"

"It's not so much about forgiving them ..."

Blake's speech slurred as she once again started to fall asleep.

"Forgiving myself..."


	3. A Hard-Knock Life

"So… what happened to you after that?"

"…"

Blake groaned in her seat as she once again roused herself from sleep. It's been three hours since they left the rustic mining town of Atticus that afternoon. The sun had just touched the distant horizon to the west. The sky was now a dark orange that highlighted the hills and clouds. The clock on the dashboard read 5:30 pm. Darkness was setting in as the car roared down the highway.

"Sorry… not my place to ask. Sorry."

Yang apologized while she down shifted gears as the highway approached a bend with an exit headed between two hills. They left the relative desolation of the desert regions behind them about an hour ago. The road exiting the highway now twisted between much taller hills that were painted orange-green by the setting sun to the west behind them. The road itself was elevated along the edge of the hills as a river flowed beneath them. She could tell they were going upstream as the river itself flowed the opposite way and was getting bigger the farther inland they drove. The hillside was lined by many large trees both diminutive and gigantic, all their leaves still green in the middle of spring. Based on their map they were going inland towards the origin of this river.

"You know that old guy? In the visitor's center? His name's Mr. Crim. I don't remember his first name."

The road went high in elevation as it approached a tall stone bridge, a bridge that spanned across the river which was probably at least 20 meters below. The wind through their open windows, carrying with it the soothing sound of calmly flowing water as it raced downstream. The air was getting cold and Blake, who was already covered in a blanket, let out a shiver. Yang pulled up the windows as they reached the other side of the bridge.

"He… brought me to Coven. The town we're going to. That night I went back to my house to hide. I was scared. People were still searching around town for Faunus. I guess he came back to check on the house since he was close to my dad. He found me in my room, clutching my stuffed lion. He… snuck me out of town in his old truck. I don't remember much after that… only waking up in a totally different place."

"Was he… part of the mob?"

The sun was now completely out of sigh. The only light shining now was the car's headlights clashing with the street lights and the stars in the sky. Blake stared out the window, peering out into the endless night sky punctuated by countless lights forming endless constellations. This was a sight she knew deep inside she missed, as the bright cityscape of Vale blocked out most of the stars at night. She remembered staring out into the night sky with her mom on their front yard while waiting for her dad to come home from work. She felt a slight pinch in her heart, as this was a memory she never thought she remembered.

"Maybe, maybe not. I don't really care. He saved my life, that's all the matters."

The car was now heading down the side of the hill it was winding on. The river was now beside them to the left, and was now more than twice in size than when they first started traveling alongside it. Yang and Blake could see some soft lights in the houses ahead. They were only a few minutes to Coven.

"Anywhere you wanna go to when we arrive?"

"Well… there's this nice inn near the outskirts of town that gets a lot of visitors. They make the best Sweetfish Stew I've ever tasted. Let's stay the night there. We'll go around in the morning. I'm sure you're hungry too Yang."

Blake let out a soft smile on remembering the inn and its food. She tried to hide it but Yang could see it emblazoned on her face. This was the first time she saw Blake smile that day, and it made her smile as well. She revved up the engine as they approached the town.

The town itself was more modern and larger than Atticus. It was a riverside town that was famous for its fishing industry. Vale, in fact, gets most of its fish from Coven. Having arrived at night the fishing boats of all sizes were moored at their docks. Each house on the riverside had their own docks and their own boats. Coven itself was still a family-centered fishing town, having been granted a protected status that prevented large scale commercial fishing companies from setting up shop in and around the area. The houses were more modern, being a mix of modern concrete and steel with more rustic stone masonry. The streets were relatively quiet, with trucks and more modern cars like the one they were driving parked on the street that were part asphalt and part cobblestone.

Pulling up to the inn and parking on the street, Yang took a full breath of the fishy air that permeated all around. A sure smell of an authentic fishing town she thought to herself. The inn itself was small like the older buildings around it, using stone and treated wood in place of concrete or steel. The lobby of the inn in contrast was filled with modern amenities you'd expect in a modern establishment, which belied its rustic exterior. There were TV monitors, couches, power outlets, air conditioning and the like.

"Excuse me? Can we have a room please? For two, separate beds, something simple. We'll only be here for a night."

Yang brought out the credit card that Ozpin gave them. Platinum Express. Enough for anything and everything they need for this trip, though Yang was conscious enough not to actually spend on anything they don't need. The female concierge was slightly wide eyed when she received it.

"Ok maam. The bellboy will be out shortly to take your luggage to the room. We'll be serving dinner in a moment, would you like some?"

Blake's ribbon twitched at the offer. Yang gestured to the concierge who brought them to the dining room where other patrons were already seated. The meals were simple but the other guests were clearly enjoying the food. Yang herself preferred simple home-style food over the more pretentious urban flavors, and was wolfing down here stew by the time Blake was seated.

"So what's the plan tomorrow?"

"There's this home near the riverside just a short walk from here. Sister Teresa's Orphanage. I woke up there when Mr. Crim got me out of Atticus. Lived there for a few years. It's actually a home for orphaned Faunus like myself…"

"I see…"

There was a short bit of silence between them before Blake started devouring her food. For all her prim and proper demeanor outclassed only by Weiss, Blake broke her standard etiquette when she ate fish. Yang always made a point to make fun of her and called her a cat. While not a somber setting, Yang decided not to make that quip this time out of respect.

"You're right Blake the food's fantastic. Much better than the frozen and preserved crap we get in Vale."

It didn't take very long for both famished girls to finish their food. The other guests had also started leaving as the two of them made their way to their room, which was on the 3rd floor of the inn at the top. On reaching to room and unpacking, Blake took a bath first as Yang flipped through the news channels. The news were all reporting the recent events in Vale and the White Fang's recent activities. There were no reports on the recent anti-Faunus sentiments that Ozpin spoke of, which either meant it was being controlled by the city leadership… or was ready to boil over any minute. Yang took her bath right after Blake.

Blake, for her part, couldn't sleep much. She tossed and turned on her bed before finally giving up. Yang was a heavy sleeper who snored with the best of them, but she too wasn't able to sleep very well. While trying to sleep, out of the corner of her eye she could a figure sitting on the balcony railing, staring up into the night sky as the figure's ribbon was outlined by the moonlight. The figure was staring up into the sky, looking lost in thought. Yang knew immediately who it was, and tried to fall back into sleep.

The morning came much quicker than she was accustomed to. Yang woke up to the sound of workmen down below preparing their fishing gear on their trucks as they headed for another day at the docks. Blake's bed was empty and she could see her standing over the balcony, fully dressed and staring at the people below. Yang quickly got up and took a bath. The two of them had decided the night before to take some sandwiches from the dining room to-go and head out to the orphanage early.

Back out on the street, Yang could see fishermen carrying their crates, fishing rods, tackle boxes and other things you'd expect from a fishing community. It was about 8:00am, and by now most fishermen were already in their boats in the river. The ones they saw were those who were already done with their morning trip, bringing back the earliest catch of the day to the market or for shipping out of town. The air smelled even more like fish than when they arrived.

A short walk from the inn, towards the riverside, and they reached a building that was actually bigger than most of the other structures around it. It was a brick and mortar building that clashed with the stone mason work of its neighbors. The main building looked very new, like it was built less than a year ago. It had a large yard facing the street with some toys and playsets scattered about. The lawn was very well maintained with flowers in full bloom and a few hedge plants properly trimmed. The structure itself was 6 floors high with a water tower and even an antenna on the roof. This wasn't the usual image Yang pictured when she thought of an orphanage.

"Yes Yang, doesn't look like a typical orphanage. It was actually smaller back then. Let's just say that the orphanage had a very wealthy benefactor make a donation recently."

Blake zeroed in on Yang's thoughts as she rang the doorbell.

"Who is it?"

"It's me Sister Teresa."

"Oh, Blake!"

The door opened and Blake received a sudden hug from an elderly woman in her sixties. She was dressed in normal everyday street clothing, and not in something you'd expect someone called a sister would wear.

"You look well Sister. How have things been since the move?"

"Very well, Blake, excellent even. The new building just finished. With more space we've been able to accommodate more orphans in the past year. With more money too we've been able to provide for them more than what we had back in the day."

"That's good Sister. A lot of these kids really need a home."

Sister Teresa peered over Blake's shoulder and saw the young blonde fidgeting in the back.

"Oh sorry. Sister Teresa, Yang Xiao Long. Yang, Sister Teresa."

Yang gave a slightly awkward handshake to the kindly old orphanage matron.

"This is Sister Teresa, head of this orphanage. She's been taking care of orphans with her staff for almost 30 years. She's like a second mother to me. Sister Teresa, this is Yang Xiao Long, my friend and classmate from Beacon."

"Nice to meet you young lady."

The elderly caretaker gave a warm almost grandmotherly smile that made Yang feel a bit of warmth inside. A strangely familiar feeling from someone she's never met before. Sister Teresa led the pair inside as children ran past them heading outside.

It was, really, unlike the image of an orphanage that Yang usually had, especially for one that looked to house Fauna exclusively. The walls were brightly wallpapered with the occasional crayon scribble. The tables and seats looked relatively pristine with some bumps and scratches here and there. The toys that littered the about looked straight out of the box and not the everyday hand-me-down. The orphanage was, for lack of a better term Yang could think of, very well funded.

The three took a seat inside the Sister's office. The walls had countless framed pictures of Faunus kids of all ages, some of them paired up with their grown up versions. One of them showed a bright-faced kid Blake with her more recent version standing beside her. Sister Teresa poured them some tea while Yang stared at the pictures on the walls.

"So Blake, what brings you here to visit? It's the middle of your semester is it not?"

"Well about that... you've seen the news about Vale right?"

"Yes I have. Such a pity and a shame. Those White Fang trouble makers are only making it harder for the rest of us to live in peace. I'm glad you left when ."

Yang took a sip of her tea as she looked at Blake in the corner of her eye, who made quick glances on the floor while the sister spoke.

"Well you were always the quiet one, but always ready to spring into action when something happens."

Yang chuckled under her breath at the comment. At that moment a young Faunus girl probably a little older than Blake knocked on the door.

"Sister? It's time for the kids morning lessons."

"I'll be there in a mi-"

"I'll do it Sister. Just like last time. You should get some rest when you can. You're not as spry as you used to be!"

Blake and Sister Teresa both let out a hearty laugh as Blake got up to the door.

"You should stay here Yang. You might learn a few things from her."

Blake waved to both of them as she walked out the door. Yang decided to stay and sipped her tea awkwardly, not knowing what to talk about with the Sister. It took a few seconds of silence before Sister Teresa spoke up.

"You know... she wasn't like this when she first came here."

"Hmmm? What do you mean."

"She was... Withdrawn. Quiet. She didn't speak a word for a week since she was dropped off here all of the sudden in the middle of the night."

Sister Teresa recalled that night 12 years ago. It was the middle of the night, but she had stayed up watching the news about the riots in Atticus. Unable to sleep, she had decided to check around their old building making sure everything was locked and secure just in case the anti-Faunus riots would come to Coven. There was a knock on their front door. Outside she saw a young girl, dressed in a tattered black dress, all wet from the rain. It was a sight she was used to in all her years of work, but there was something different about her. Her eyes looked empty. It was clear she had seen things no child should ever have to see.

"We didn't know what happened to her, though based on what she looked like and of recent events, I surmised she came from Atticus. A survivor of the riots. She was withdrawn from the other kids, always by herself in a corner, just looking at the window outside."

Sister Teresa stood up and looked at the children being called in for class from her office window.

"It was a week before she said a word. The very first thing she did was tell us about what happened that night in Atticus. She recalled every bit it down to the most violent detail. She told us about what happened to her parents, and she spoke of it with an almost emotionless expression. It was heartbreaking... and the manner of which she spoke was almost terrifying..."

"She... has that poker face habit even in school. Not always but sometimes it's really hard to tell what she's thinking or feeling."

"It took a while but she eventually opened up here. We couldn't get her professional help for mental trauma outside because we didn't want her to get more embroiled in those events as it was so we did our best for her. Eventually she started to be more open, more active. She even started to help around the orphanage doing chores. We... didn't have much back then. Not enough money and not enough space. Every bit of help, we were thankful for, and Blake eventually became the big sister of the younger kids as time went by... However..."

"Let me guess. She doesn't like letting some things go, and it caused quite a few... fights?"

"I guess that's really part of her nature. Despite her caring nature, she had a bit of confrontational attitude even as a kid, and it came out a lot back then when this town was... A little less tolerant of Faunus."

Sister Teresa brought out a picture of the old orphanage. The outside walls were covered in graffiti.

"You see those markings? When she learned that some neighborhood kids did it, she tracked them down and gave her a piece of her mind. She also loosened some of their teeth."

"Yeah, sounds just about right for Blake. She's the type who can't let go of any injustices she sees."

"She gained a reputation as a local defender of Faunus kids. Back then the adults knew enough to be civil with us Faunus, their kids... not so much. The other Faunus kids would always go to her when the human kids picked on them or tried to hurt them. Most of the time it was just Blake getting angry and threatening them, at times things got... violent. This went on until that day when she was 10 years old..."

"That day?"

Both of them finished up their tea as Sister Teresa rose up from her chair and headed towards the door.

"The day she joined the White Fang. She never really told us why she joined. She might tell you if you ask. Come on, I think it's time for me to teach."

They headed out of the office and into the classroom across the hall. Inside were kids sitting attentively behind their desks in rows. In front was Blake, wearing her glasses, holding a pointer to the screen behind her.

"... and that's why we have Hunters and Huntresses. Any questions?"

"Miss Belladonna! Can I be a Huntress like you?"

A young kid probably no more than 6 years old raised her hand. She had floppy dog-like ears hanging from her side.

"I'm not a Huntress. Yet. You can if you wanted to, but it's a very demanding and dangerous job! If you really want to then you should train everyday as much as you can!"

The kids started talking amongst themselves all excitedly. As the noise levels in the class rose, Blake and Sister Teresa stepped in.

"Calm down class! Miss Belladonna, I'll take it from here. Thank you for your help."

"My pleasure Sister. Er... Do you think I could...?"

"Some things never change. It's not like the old one, but you'll like it. Here."

Sister Teresa handed Blake a set of keys as she took control of the classroom with a stern voice. The two girls headed for the stairs by the front door.

"Let's... Go to the roof. We can talk there."

The pair climbed 6 flights of stairs to the roof. Unlocking the door with the key given to her, Blake immediately realized what Sister Teresa was talking about. The roof in their old orphanage was a hodgepodge of broken bricks, bird droppings and the occasional spray painted taunt. This roof had a water purifier, solar energy panels and even a small rooftop garden being tended to by the older kids.

"I'm guessing Sister told you stories about me back then huh."

"The combative social justice warrior under the guise of the bookish quiet type? Yeah nothing really new there."

Blake raised her eyebrows as Yang flashed a wide playful grin. Accepting that Sister Teresa had told her story for you, Blake climbed a few feet up the water tower and gazed towards the river filled with boats returning to port.

"Sister knew you were a member of the White Fang. She didn't know why you joined however..."

Blake stared towards the horizon. The sun was already at its highest point, but the calm winds of the river valley kept the air cool despite being high noon.

"Sometimes I think it was fate that I ended up joining the White Fang..."

She jumped down from the tower and sat on the roof ledge, her feet dangling over the people crossing the street below. Yang joined her as they both looked towards the waterfront.

"I had gained a bit of a reputation for... Fighting people who made fun of us Faunus kids. One day I ended up beating this one kid a bit too much. Broke his jaw and knocked some teeth down his throat. His parents... hired some thugs to "take care" of me. And not simply rough me up mind you..."

Yang's eyes widened up. 2nd time in just as many days. Blake again maintained the same straight faced expression as yesterday as she held her left shoulder.

"I was out doing errands for Sister just after dinner when three guys jumped me from out of nowhere. One of them punched me in the gut before I could scream as they dragged me into a nearby alley . The other guy tied me up while he talked about "selling me" to some dude. Apparently these guys kidnap young Faunus and sell them to... Trophy Collectors. People who look at us like animals and turn us into the equivalent of wild game hunting. If you were lucky..."

"Lucky?"

"You'd end up dead and mounted on some old man's fireplace, like a lion or bear or something. Some of the buyers I heard were into the more... fetishistic end of the spectrum. These people wanted their Faunus alive for more... physical reasons. "

Yang's hair started to glow and she gripped her fists. Again, 2nd time in as many days.

"The 3rd guy gagged me and... groped me, mumbling something about checking if I was "grown up" enough to be sold to those people. They were already carrying me to their car as I was already slowly passing out from that hard punch to the stomach. It was then that it happened..."

Yang had already started to calm down as her hair went back to its golden yellow hue. She could only curse under her breath at the situations Blake had been at such a young age.

"All I could see was a few blinding flashes of what looked like a sword. It lasted maybe 5 seconds. I suddenly fell to the ground and saw a man wearing a mask before I passed out. When I came to I was in my bed in the orphanage. It was already morning."

Blake stood up and took a biscuit from her pocket and handed some to Yang as she continued her story while nibbling on the snack.

"When I came down that man was talking to Sister. He introduced himself as a White Fang member and had chanced upon me passed out on a bench by the park. He didn't tell her the truth. The truth might have broken her heart I think. She told me to thank the man for taking me home... but I ended up saying something else."

"And you said what I think you said?"

"Sister, I want to join the White Fang."

The rest of the story was cut short when Sister Teresa came up to the roof to invite them for some snacks downstairs.

"No thanks Sister. We have an early day tomorrow. Long drive to the next stop. We should be heading back to the inn to get some rest."

"I see. Such a pity. But we'll be expecting you once the semester ends yes?"|

"Of course. I'll bring something for the kids this time."

"That would be nice. Be sure to bring Ms. Xiao Long with you again when you do!"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world Sister. It's a great thing what you do here."

Yang gave Sister Teresa a big Yang Xiao Long hug. As they reached the orphanage's front door Blake also gave her a hug and exchanged a few more words before leaving. The two strolled back to the inn side by side as Yang again needed time to digest all that she had heard this day. Still, she couldn't get one question out of her mind, and decided it was as good a time as any to ask.

"Umm Blake... That guy who saved you..."

"Yeah?"

Up in the inn, Blake had just unlocked their room when Yang popped the question.

"The guy who saved you? You know his name? I mean he must be a pretty good guy even in the White Fang if he saved you."

"His name?"

Taking off her shoes, Blake plopped herself down on her bed and let out a deep almost echoing sigh.

"His name is Adam Taurus."


	4. Talking 'Bout A Revolution

"I really wish you could get these in Vale. Fresh food is really so much better than the frozen ones we get."

Yang and Blake gleefully chomped on their on their fish by a cliff side. Unlike typical barbecued fish, these were wrapped in lemongrass and slow cooked over hot coals. The lemongrass helped keep the fish from getting charred and kept the spices within the fish while adding its own distinct flavor and aroma.

"Yeah. Where me and Ruby come from it's almost always white as snow. We don't get to enjoy good food and good views like this."

It's been 3 hours since they left the fishing village of Coven behind. The road beyond the town twisted and turned as it snaked through the mountain range that formed the central spine of the continent. The path climbed in altitude such that the air had become quite cold and this, with a little bit of frost forming along the grass and leaves. They saw few cars along their way, only a few trucks carrying hardwood logs going down the mountain side back into the main highway to the western side of the range. It was here on a cliff side overlooking the verdant mountains beyond and below that the two travelers decided to have lunch.

"I'm actually a bit jealous of you Blake. Looks like you've been to a lot of places growing up."

"Hmm… well it's not like I've had the chance to really appreciate these places. Maybe I was too young or… you know…"

Blake had just finished eating her fish and carefully placed the leaves in the trash bin in the car. Taking the keys from Yang, she popped open the trunk and took out their coats and windbreakers.

"Where we're going it's going to be colder than this, but probably nothing you're not yet used to."

Getting in, Yang revved up the engine as Blake wiped of the mist that was forming on the windshield. It would be at least 2 more hours to their destination.

"So I'm guess this place was where he brought you when you left the orphanage?"

Blake turned up the heater in the car as things were getting rather frosty. Still, no snow in sight as they noticed the trees getting bigger and the grass getting shorter while they rounded a bend up the mountainside.

"Not really. I've been to a few places after Coven. You could say that… this was where I saw systematic segregation of Faunus first hand. Probably around 1 year after I left."

Segregation. While it wasn't a word Yang had never heard of before, she admitted to herself that she had never seen it happening. While she was aware that there were places where Faunus were seen as second class citizens, she had never seen it being applied as a social norm. She wondered how such a thing could still happen at such a day and age as they passed by what looked like a lumber mill.

"And speak of the devil…"

Blake stared intently as they passed by the lumber mill nestled on the slope. She could see Faunus workers, without wearing proper safety gear, loading logs on their shoulders as a human wearing a hardhat bellowed orders on a megaphone. Standard regulations would dictate that all workers in environments having the danger of falling objects should be wearing hardhats and gloves. These rules clearly weren't being followed in this situation.

"It's not as bad as it used to be. Still… some people try to ignore the rules for a profit… just like Schnee Company…"

Blake made the Schnee Company comment as the lumber mill passed beyond sight behind them. The two now passed an area with trees getting progressively shorter and appearing younger, a sign of reforestation being done as older trees were being felled by the local lumber industry. National governments have agreed on laws regarding reforestation to promote sustainability, something that the industry follows to the letter. It says something about the industry when it follows sustainability laws stricter than personal rights laws.

"She's trying you know. Weiss. She's been pressuring her dad a lot about these issues and her dad listens. For the most part at least, and she says things have gone better."

"I know. It's just… they could still do more. I also wish other people out here would follow that example…"

Blake went on a tangent about how some businesses in the more outlying areas can still get away with unfair business practices. Large companies like Schnee are put on the spotlight often and thus their methods tend to be amplified by the media. Smaller companies, like that lumber mill as Blake pointed out, can often get away with it when people decide not to ask and no one decides to tell.

"It's unfair, yes, but a lot of us are willing to do it. If only to put food on the table."

More and more trucks carrying lumber passed by their car as they continued on over the mountain range. It was just past midday as Yang started to see the clouds get darker and the frost on the windshield get thicker. It was going to rain, she thought. Or maybe snow. God forbid it's hale. Ozpin wouldn't want to see dents and cracks on his new car, especially when he hasn't ridden it yet.

"How much farther to the town? Weather isn't looking to good."

"The town is just 2 hours out. Also we aren't going to town, not yet at least. There's something I need to get from an abandoned mill halfway between here and the town proper."

"Abandoned mill? Let me guess..."

"Yeah. An old White Fang base."

It had started to snow a little at that point. Blake luckily had the foresight to have the snow chains attached at the last gas station just in case it started. The two were already a bit of a ways up the mountains and pretty far from civilization, so any problems they encounter on the road would be pretty serious without help. For all of Yang's skill with driving, she was actually quite clueless on fixing her bike, much more a car that wasn't hers. She turned up the heat as the frost on the windshield grew thicker. She considered them lucky that they finally arrived at the old mill before the windshield wipers finally got stuck on all the ice. The wind itself was already emitting a soft howl as it weaved and echoed between the trees and the valleys below. The radio weather report said nothing about impending snowstorms, but cautioned listeners to prepare for heavy fall just in case.

The mill itself wasn't so much a mill as it was a garage. It was located on a hillside much like the one they passed by earlier, except this one looked decrepit and the surrounding trees looked untouched. The structure reminded Yang much of Blake's old house, already overgrown with vegetation with its wooden walls and roof already broken and cracked from rot and disuse. The difference that the area around her old house was ankle deep in sand, while this was was ankle deep in snow. The doors to the barn was wide open with the door itself barely still attached to its hinges. The insides were littered with broken pieces of wood and metal fragments, surrounding a rusty beat up truck looking older than both of them combined. Just like Blake's old house, no one's been here for years.

Yang had told Blake to check inside while she started chipping in futility on the now frozen snowfall that stuck to the cars windshield. The car was parked in the smaller storage garage to the side of the old mill. Blake thought that the place looked almost exactly as it did the last time she was here, only of course more derelict. She approached the back of the truck and, sweeping off the layers of dirt, found the handle to an old hatch.

"How's it going with that Yang?"

"Can I PLEASE just punch this damn thing? Where I come from it snows 5 days a week and we didn't have to deal with this!"

"You could if you can afford a new windshield. And a new car."

The ice finally came off a few seconds after their exchange. Yang's hair was already glowing at the time and just went back to normal, saving them the need to explain to the headmaster why his new car became a charred husk on top of a mountain. Heaving off the ice, she headed into the mill as Blake pried off the hatch cover with a nearby crowbar

"I'm guessing you were based here when you joined?"

"Not really. When I joined I moved around a lot. Saw a lot of things. Both good and bad."

Blake went back to the car and ruffled through her things in the trunk, looking for a flashlight.

"Adam... he showed me a lot of things. In a way I tried to justify that what happened to me back then, those things... that they were the exception and not the rule. That maybe, you know, we weren't that much hated by people."

Finding a heavy duty flashlight among her things, Blake peered through the darkness down the hatch. It reeked of a damp smell that made her sensitive Faunus nose cringe.

"It was here in this town that my... comfortable delusions broke. Let's just say that it was here that I really saw just how big inequality is. Let's go."

Blake was the first to descend down the proverbial rabbit hole. Unlike most White Fang hideouts, the shaft itself was lined by concrete, giving Yang the impression that this wasn't a simple place out in the woods but a likely a real base where they congregated. The shaft itself was at least 30 feet deep, a long way down, and the floor was lined by concrete as well. The light that shined from Blake illuminated a big main hall that could probably fit anywhere from 50 to a hundred people, with pillars holding the roof up and what looked like corridors branching out from it. Water dripped from the roof. The walls showed countless cracks and spray painted slogans calling for justice and equality for the Faunus. The hall was littered with broken boxes, chairs, tables and canisters. Yang picked up a torn up piece of paper from one of the chairs. The air was just as cold was it was outside.

"Huh? This emblem is white..."

Blake shined the light on the wall behind the stage, showing both the old and new emblems of the White Fang side by side, already tattered from disuse.

"When the organization changed, so did our emblem. I told you guys before the White Fang wasn't like this, when I was young."

Blake motioned Yang towards a hallway to the right of the stage. Clambering above what looked like a barricade, the two girls entered a section that looked like a living quarters. The hallway was covered in a thin layer of water and appeared to loop back around the main hall towards the other side of the stage. There were dozens of rooms with many broken double-deck beds and bathrooms that emanated a faint repulsive odor. The rooms were littered with everything from toys, computers, tools and even some broken guns, indicating that this place was once used by both children and adults. Most likely members of the White Fang and victims of abuse, Yang thought.

"I came here when I was 11, a year after I left the orphanage. During that year Adam brought me around and showed me the struggles that our brethren had to endure. To be honest what I saw I didn't really think was that bad. Mostly it was people being racist on the street, Faunus getting unfair prices in shops and cases of being denied work for being a Faunus. Nothing that I thought was really... you know... bad. At least not as bad as what I had... experienced."

Blake leafed through a pile of old papers in one of the rooms at the back. Yang took one of the papers, which was a propaganda flyer showing an actual picture of a Faunus laborer struggling to carry some lumber down a hill while some humans were at the back looking on and laughing. At the bottom of the flyer were bolded words urging the Faunus not to be blind to racism and stand up for their rights. The flyer was tagged with the old White Fang emblem.

"That's a shot of an actual Faunus years ago. This area's a native region to the Faunus for centuries. With human civilization swallowing up Faunus culture everywhere and... well... we were treated as second class citizens in many places. A lot of Faunus came to this area for work, work that was essentially slave labor. Twice the hours at half the pay in some places."

Underneath the pile she finally managed to find what she was looking for: a small optical disk, practically ancient by today's standards. She put it in her pocket and Yang poked around the lockers in the room they were in.

"So you came here to... free them?"

"Heh no. At least not violently if that's what you're thinking. That time the White Fang was still committed to peace. I came with Adam because he was planning to start a mass rally demanding better work hours and pay for our people here. He wanted me to see just how horribly we were treated, and I did..."

"Yeah I kind of got that idea from this flyer. So... how was it?"

Blake looked at the flyer from Yang and stared at the image. Specifically, the men who were laughing.

"We came here to organize a workers union for Faunus. For us it was what the higher ups said was the ripple that would become a wave. This place was where our big plan would start. Faunus everywhere would rise up in peace, and force humanity to recognize us as legitimate citizens in this world. This bunker of sorts we're in was the where the plan was conceived."

The two walked out of the room and back into the hall. Blake climbed up the old wooden stage, already starting to break from rot. She stared into the grand hall that, many years before, were filled with excited Faunus young and old, ready to hear the White Fang and its grand plans for Faunus everywhere.

"We had a large meeting here 6 years ago. I remember being so excited, talking and learning from not old stalwarts of the group but also new arrivals eager to learn and hear what was in store. Even though I was a member, I didn't know what was going to happen here. When the leaders finally spoke... well... I honestly can't remember what they talked about. All I remember was getting caught up in the cheers and euphoria. Like it was... like it was a new day for all of us. A new dawn."

Blake took the flyer from Yang and crushed it in her fist before crushing it again under her boot, an act that took Yang aback.

"Pure and utter propaganda. What's sad is that it took me years to figure it out."

"What do you-"

"That's a chapter for another day, in another town. Let's get out of this dump. Let time take its toll."

The two of them climbed back up into the derelict mill. The howl of the wind had started to die down. The falling snow had let up and the sun had started to set behind the mountains beyond the horizon. It was already the afternoon and the orange hue of the sun had mixed with silvery white glow of the freshly descended snow and the verdant green of the trees. Blake headed back to the car while Yang headed down near the road, taking in as much of the view as she could.

"Like I said before... where I live we don't get views like this. Makes me kind of regret I never spent the time to just stop and look. Blake... umm... do you-"

"Regret?"

"... yeah."

"More than I can possibly imagine."

The road beyond the mill had gotten wider as the car started to descend in altitude. In just a few minutes they could see the lights on a town on the mountain slope. As they approached the town proper you could clearly that it was a woodcutter's place, since everything was made of wood and practically nothing else. Log cabins were crisscrossed with larger structures that contained woodworking equipment like saws and carving machines. As it was the afternoon, The flatbed trucks were already parked outside or in garages, having delivered their loads for the day. Treated and processed wood products were stacked neatly in and around the buildings, ready for delivery in the morning.

"Our first big protest happened around here. Around that corner I think."

Turning said corner, they came to a small roundabout. On one edge was a small church, and beside it was what looked like a courthouse. This building also served as the mayors office. The center of the roundabout was a small fountain that had remarkably continued to flow water despite the nearly freezing temperature.

"Faunus at that time were almost half the town's workforce, so getting all of them together to go on strike would easily paralyze the town. We counted maybe 90% attendance, which was a number unheard of in previous gatherings. It was enough for the mayor to take notice. We were there for 3 days, in the freezing cold, and the town practically stopped during that time. I'm sure you can guess that some people didn't like it."

After one drive around, Yang parked the car by an old rickety building beside the courthouse that Blake pointed out. The building looked old and unused, but was still in relatively good shape compared to the other uninhabited buildings they've come across. The door was unlocked, but it looked like no one's lived there in ages. There were no furniture inside and the floor was dirty, however it looked livable if only for just one night. The two girls took out their sleeping bags, a small dust cooking stove and a dust lamp, and set up on the second floor floor which was in better shape than the ground floor.

"From a nice riverside inn to roughing it out in an abandoned house huh Blakey."

"Beats sleeping in a tent in the woods. Trust me. Not fun."

"Me and Ruby lived in a wooden cabin for a few years so, you know, we're kinda used to it."

Yang opened up some canned beef stew with potatoes and carrots. She was stirring the pot as Blake was typing on her scroll and looking at her messages. She took out the optical disc they found and plugged into the scroll.

"So... what's inside?"

"It's... when I left I took a copy of the group's financial history. Known backers, money transfers, weapon and supply purchases since the group went violent. This information should help governments trace their money movements and pin down organizations who've been backing their activities. I hid it before I came to Beacon."

Yang nearly spilled the pot of stew in shock. Her eyes went red and her hair glowed.

"Wait what? You had that info and you hid it? That could have stopped the tunnel attacks!"

Yang got up as her voice grew louder and her pitch got higher. Even strangers could tell she was angry based on her eyes alone. Blake went silent and closed her eyes.

"Ruby and Jaune almost died down there!"

Before she realized it, Ember Celica went into gauntlet mode. Blake could feel the tangible rage in the air. She crawled into a ball. She hugged her knees as tears started to stream silently down her face.

"I-I'm sorry... I-I just thought that... that if something like this happened the data on the disc would get me out of trouble. I didn't know what they were planning. I... I didn't... mean to... Ruby..."

She buried her face in her palms as she cried, her voice barely louder than a whisper. Yang came back to her senses and, seeing the black Faunus girl crying like a little lost cat, her hair and eyes went back to normal and gave Blake a big Yang hug.

"Sssshh it's okay. It's not your fault. I'm sorry for getting angry. I'm sorry Blake."

Blake buried her face in Yang's shoulder as she slowly stopped crying. Yang patted her on the back like a mother comforting her child. Yang thought that, for all the mature impressions that Blake tends to show, she was still a frightened kid inside. A kid who has been through more than anyone should have at such a young age.

"Yang... if Ruby doesn't-"

"She'll be fine."

"Are..."

"I'm sure. Stop crying. It doesn't suit you."

Blake wiped her tears with a handkerchief. She took out the disc and put it back in her pack. With a smile, she took out a bowl and scooped up a hefty serving of the piping hot stew.

"Thanks Yang."

"Don't mention it. Seeing you cry kinda breaks your cool and quiet beauty mythos."

Yang got a face full of pillow for her trouble. Their laughter pierced the solitude of this old abandoned home. Yang with her typical boisterous laugh and Blake with her more subdued chuckles. A pot of stew boiling over a stove in the cold, sitting beside good company to share it with. In times like this even salty canned food can taste like 4 star restaurant meals.

"Did your first protest work?"

"It did. Sort of. To be honest the town didn't give in to all our demands. The important ones yes, like better wages and opportunities, the more practical stuff."

Blake scooped up another serving, slowly blowing over the steam. The stove itself served like a makeshift campfire for them, warming the small room they were in just enough to stave off the freezing cold that came with nightfall.

"The discrimination? Those things are more... ingrained in people. And society."

"Yeah. Those things are the hardest to change."

Yang chugged down a big spoonful of food. Blake was already used to her partner's less than ladylike approach to table etiquette, which she admitted to herself must be part of her charm. Some guys seemed to like the way she eats at least.

"But Blake... as you said so yourself, you gotta start somewhere. I mean if you managed to get Weiss, who really hates a lot of Faunus for what they did to her and her family, to change, you can get anyone to."

"It's not just Weiss you know. She may be a Schnee, but what we Faunus really need to change are people like her dad."

"Her dad?"

"People in power. Not saying Weiss can't maybe influence her father, but people in power can really shake things up. And besides..."

Blake took one last sip of her food and put her bowl down. It was nighttime, and the moonlight shone rather brightly through the window she was staring out of. She took her sleeping bag, wrapped herself inside, and laid her back to the wall under the window.

"Don't tell Weiss, actually maybe she already knows... but the Schnee Company is one of the reasons the White Fang changed for the worse. Not entirely their fault, and maybe not consciously, but they still had a hand in it."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

Blake closed her eyes and let out a big yawn from under her covers.

"That's... a story for... another day..."

Within seconds Blake was already asleep, purring like a cat under her bag. Yang mustered a grin as she watched her partner fall into the sandman's influence. Getting into her own sleeping bag, she huddled beside her partner under the window, laid her head onto her shoulder, and slowly faded away into sleep.


	5. The Times They Are A Changin'

"Are you sure you can fix the car?"

"Sure I'm sure. Car engines are basically the same as a motorcycle's... right?

"Uh... maybe?"

Yang popped the hood of the car and opened up the toolbox on top of the engine block. For the last few miles Yang had noticed that the clutch started to make metallic grinding noises with every gear shift. It had only been a few hours since they left the mountains behind them, yet there wasn't a single gas station in sight since they reached level ground. On the drive down the mountain Blake admitted that she wasn't familiar with the area as she was asleep on her way through when she first came. The on board map tracker wasn't of much help as well, showing the closest town to be at least an hour away.

"You know... did you ever find it weird that we haven't seen a single Grimm out here since we left Vale?"

"Lots of hunters work this part of the continent, so most Grimm avoid most settlements by the major roads. Forever fall and the underground areas being the exception of course. I guess if you REALLY wanted to find one you should go off the beaten paths."

Yang tinkered around the engine, trying to hide the fact that she didn't know what she was doing. A few checks here and a few checks there and she still had no idea what was wrong with the transmission. She had basic knowledge of dust combustion engines due to her work on her bike, but it finally dawned on her that car engines are very different creatures.

"You know Blake, I really wouldn't mind if an Ursa came out of nowhere right now. Could use a little break from the monotony..."

"You're... joking... right?"

"Nooope~"

Blake, who was leaning back on the car while Yang was working on the engine, looked down under hood on her partner with an expression non-amusement. Yang was already whistling to herself, partly to mask the annoyance of not knowing what was wrong, and to tease her black-haired Faunus partner. Blake, resigning to the fact that it was just Yang being Yang, just mildly sighed as the wind blew on her hair.

The two had headed north east as they descended from the mountain range, heading towards the continent's northern coast. On their way down they could see fields of yellow as far as the eye could see. The area was dominated by rolling plains of wheat fields, as this part of the continent was called the breadbasket of the continent. These days large agricultural companies own much of the region, but family-operated farms can still be found in and around. The main highway bisected the heart of this region and was thus lined by wheat fields almost the entire way from the base of the mountains to cliffs overlooking the sea.

"Oh hey it's out of transmission fluid. Simple problem really."

"Took you that long to figure it out?"

"Details details."

Yang poured some fluid into the container up to the line. As she filled it up droplets of water started to make pitter-patter sounds on the car windshield. A light rain was falling, something the local weather news seemed to have missed. Closing the hood, both girls got back into the car as the rain started to get heavier. The smooth sound of the transmission as Yang shifted into first gear was a good sign that they could continue their drive without problems. Well and good, as being trapped in the middle of nowhere in the pouring rain wasn't on their agenda. The rain itself wasn't too strong, as wheat wouldn't grow well in a high rainfall climate.

"Umm... Blake?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Let me guess... a White Fang question?"

"I seriously need to be less obvious..."

Blake let out an evil looking smile. She's been around Yang long enough to notice whenever something was bothering her. Yang was never the hardest person to read, and Blake took pride in her ability to notice changes in the social atmosphere quite easily. She could tell this was a continuation of their discussion the previous day.

"It's just that... we were always taught that the White Fang was some sort of violent revolutionary group hell bent on conquering or killing humans. No offense."

"None taken, though I have to wonder what kind of school you went to."

"A backward country school, if you must know. Anyway... do you... what REALLY caused the White Fang to go from a peaceful movement to what they are now?"

Blake leaned back on her chair as the question caused a bit of awkward silence between them. Yang knew enough not to press her for an answer, as she knew Blake was the evasive type when she doesn't like to answer certain question. Blake looked out into the falling rain as the sun was barely visible behind the clouds, emitting weak beams of light in between the raindrops. The wheat fields were covered in grey and blue, a far cry from the golden richness just minutes ago.

"The group obviously wanted better lives for Faunus everywhere, but like any large organization, each member had their own... beliefs on how to do this."

Blake removed her ribbon and let her ears out to breath a little. The increased humidity of the surroundings made wrapping them up rather uncomfortable.

"When I joined, most of the members really believed in a peaceful solution through dialogue and demonstrations. At the time there were only a few who really thought that an armed struggle was a realistic option. But... as time went by..."

Blake suddenly leaned her head on over on Yang's lap, which of course surprised the blonde enough to almost lose control of the car. She rested her head on Yang's lap as the flustered boxer was at a loss for words.

"Look at my ear. My... uh... cat ear. The right one."

Yang put the car on cruise control and looked down on her partners head. On her right ear was a scar near the base. The flesh was partly torn and the ear itself bent a bit downward due to the scar tissue contraction. From a distance one would probably not notice it, but from this close you could see that her ears weren't properly balanced. The right ear was definitely lower than the left.

"Did... you get that from a fight or something."

Sensing Yang's urge to touch her ears, Blake got up just as young was about to reach for them. A lightly audible clicking of the tongue was then heard inside the confines of the vehicle.

"If could call a one sided engagement a fight. It's actually quite... ironic for you to ask that question right now."

"Hm? Why?"

"This scar on my ear... I got it on the day everything changed for the group. And it all happened in the next town we'll be going to."

"We visiting anyone or anything."

"A bunch of old friends. 50 of them, to be precise."

Yang tilted her head as she pondered how they were going to visit 50 different people in a single town. The rain had started to stop as the car roared down the highway towards the coast. The northern coast of the continent was in actuality lined with high cliffs bordering the rough waters of the channel that divided Vale from Atlas. With no real seaside ports to ply the route between kingdoms, air travel became the primary mode of transportation, and as such the coastline possessed multiple small airship anchorages. Larger airports, like the one in the city of Hightide, cater to larger volumes of people and cargo, making it the busiest airport city along the coast.

The golden wheat fields behind them, the highway divided east and west at the edge of the cliff on the continent's northernmost boundary. Blake motioned for Yang to turn right, moving further up the coast. The road snaked and twisted as it followed the coastline perhaps a hundred meters above the sea. The waves below crashed along the cliff walls an on the craggy rocks that protruded from the sea bed, features produced by thousands of years of erosion by the sea. Above them they could see airships flying to and from the horizon. The further they drove east, the more ships they could see overhead, signaling that they were getting close to the city. Passing by what looked like a lighthouse, they could see airship piers of different sizes jutting out over the cliff edge. They were already within the city limits.

Airship travel was itself, while convenient, also rather expensive. Land and sea travel was still the best option for the average person, so most people travelling and most cargo still took overland routes whenever possible. Port cities like Hightide popped up wherever Airship travel was only best option to bridge areas not traverseable over land or water. As such, the city was a major travel and trade hub between the kingdoms of Vale and Atlas, as the rough seas and the high cliffs made all other forms pointless. As a mixing pot of two cultures, the city's fusion of Vale's more low key traditional architecture with Atlas' futuristic constructs became rather obvious as the girls drove into town. The city periphery favored Vale's traditional stone and concrete low to medium rise architecture while the city center featured Atlas' penchant for steel-framed skyscrapers. One would expect it from the 2nd largest city in the kingdom.

"Yang... let's not go downtown yet. Can we... stop by a florist somewhere?"

"Florist? Gonna buy flowers for those friends of yours? Gonna be hard visiting all 50 of them, the flowers will probably wilt before we find half."

"Not a problem. They're all in the same place... actually..."

The car cruised the west suburbs of the town as Blake looked for a store that sold flowers. The city itself was rather big and, as a metropolis, it wouldn't take a person too long to find what they were looking for. True enough after 15 minutes of driving around they eventually found a small store by an intersection. Blake told Yang to keep the engines running as she went down by herself. As she entered, she could see that the florist had a tail as she clipped some stems from a bouquet of red roses. She looked like the old grandmotherly type. Blake made a mental note to bring red roses to Ruby when they get back.

"Excuse me madame? I'd like to by 50 calla lilies please. Individual stems and flowers if you can."

"Calla lilies huh. Not a lot of people buy those, not to mention 50 in one go. Are you..."

The elderly florist noticed a slight hint of solemnity on Blake's face. Blake's ears twitched under her ribbon, but it was enough for the florist to get the hint of who she was talking to.

"I see. I should have enough of those. Give me a moment."

Blake looked around the shop, looking at the displays of roses, chrysanthemums and orchids, as she smelled the fragrance of chamomile wafting through the air. This gave her an idea.

"And a small bunch of dried chamomile please. Ones I could use for tea?"

She took a seat by the counter while the old florist was in the back. From her seat she could hear the ruffling of leaves and paper as old florist collected the flowers. It took all of 10 minutes for her to assemble all the flowers in 5 bouquets of 10 flowers each.

"You're lucky. These once just came in yesterday and... well no one really buys Calla lilies this time of year."

The florist wrapped up all the flowers together as Blake swiped her Scroll over the register. As Blake bowed, thanked the florist and turned around to leave, the old lady placed her hand on her shoulder.

"It's nice what you're doing for them. You know... barely anyone goes to that part anymore. The groundskeeper rarely even works that area. It's overgrown with weeds and vines and all sorts of plants."

"... Someone has to do it. Someone has to remember. If not... it'll only happen again..."

"... Such mature young woman. Well you best be on your way then."

Blake waved at the old woman, who flashed a warm smile, as she got back into the car.

"That's... a lot of flowers. So where to?"

"Greensdale Gardens. Take the left on that fork and... yeah just head on north. You should see a sign pointing the way."

"Greensdale Gardens huh. Sounds like an old folks home..."

The well-manicured lawns they saw going north eventually gave way to a large walled-off area that looked rather old and decrepit compared to the new-looking houses around it. They eventually reached a rusty gate with the words "Greensdale Garden" on the arch above the somewhat broken steel bars, the letter S in the Gardens obviously missing from disrepair. Vines slithered their way up the gate pillars and the stone walls surrounding the area. It was fairly obvious that not a lot of people still come here. Yang parked the car beside the gate opened it with a loud creaking sound.

"... 'Let there be peace in Remnant. For the living and the dead...'"

A large stone monolith, the inscription legible but somewhat eroded by the elements. Extending from its sides were long rows of ancient-looking trees with huge overarching branches that filtered out the light, their trunks as wide as a fat Ursa. Their roots pushed up from the soil causing an uneven ground footing. The path to and behind the monolith sneaked underneath two of the larger trees just past the gate. Yang had to get close to the monolith to read the inscription. She could tell that this place was pretty old. The grass itself was still well-trimmed, with flowers surrounding the monolith itself, which contrasted starkly with the poor maintenance work on the outside.

"You know Blake, you don't really put something like this where people live. Sounds like it belongs in a cemetery or something."

"Because it is. A cemetery."

Yang rounded behind the monolith and saw rows upon rows of tombstones, probably in the hundreds. Tombstones of different sizes and shapes, but all bearing the same thing: names and dates, with dedications underneath. It stretched far and wide along a large grassy field, with the occasional tree in between. The ancient trees by the gate did well to hide this fact, as no one would have noticed that this was a graveyard just from the entrance. Yang was taken aback by the sight before her. She was used to smaller cemeteries or maybe a few dozen people, or solitary graves like the one for Ruby's mother. This is her first time seeing the final resting place for hundreds of the dearly departed. At this point she knew exactly who or what Blake wanted to visit. Why exactly they were 50, she could tell there was a story behind it, but decided not to pry into the issue just yet.

They walked past the monolith, down a stone path that cut down the middle of the field. Some of the graves looked rather ornate with elegant stone carvings of animals like birds, cats and dogs. Some of graves looked recently visited, with flowers still looking fresh on top of the soil. Others looked rather old with cracks and chips on the stone, yet the lawn was well maintained. Whether or not these graves were still visited by friends and relatives, they were still taken cared for.

"The ones were going to are down the back near the edge."

The two continued along the path farther back. The farther they walked, the more unkempt the lawn started to look. The trees behind the main field weren't as clean or trimmed as the ones in front, with weeds popping up around the trunks, not to mention bits and pieces of trashed plastic and metal strewn about. The path itself was becoming uneven and broken as they got closer towards the cliff edge. A broken sign beside the path pointed towards the coast. Uncut shrubs and bushes obscured the path beyond, with the girls having to sidestep the leaves and branches the jutted out along the trail. This was clearly an area

"This is... kinda disrespectful. To the dead I mean. On Patch we always made sure these places were clean and well maintained..."

"Well it's not like people... don't care. It's more like... most people don't know."

The sight that greeted them upon reaching the end of the path was a lesson in contrasts. It was still a cemetery for what it's worth, if one could call haphazard stone and wooden markers as headstones. Along a cliffside providing a stunning view of the sea beyond was a ramshackle of stone mounds and wooden stakes. Weeds grew everywhere. The trees were bent and crooked with their bark flaking off. The area itself was cordoned off from the rest by a rotten wooden fence, with nothing beyond the edge but a sheer hundred meter drop into the protruding rocks below. It was as if the world had forgotten this place. There was nothing there that would have showed any activity for years. No offerings, no ornaments, no candles. Not even inscriptions on those lucky enough to have a tombstone. Not even names to remember them by.

Nothing, save for a pot of plastic flowers decaying from the forces of nature, standing in the middle of 50 desolate graves.

"This is... my god..."

The first grave was a pile of 10 stones atop a hastily covered grave site. Blake took out a calla lily, placed it on the grave, and gave a prayer as she knelled. Yang had believed herself to have understood the sufferings of the Faunus from Blake's stories, but what she saw here was different. It was one thing to suffer. Another thing to die.

To be forgotten? That was something else entirely

Upon each grave Blake placed a calla lily, knelled and gave a short prayer. Yang followed behind her, filled with the urge to also kneel and offer her own prayers, but was filled with such a sense of shame and guilt that she could not bear to do so. All she could do was stand there and look as Blake slowly placed all 50 flowers on all 50 graves. It gripped and tugged at her heart, but she could not make herself kneel. A feeling as though, whatever she could do, would mean nothing to the souls of those who lay underneath their feet, forgotten by the world.

It took a while before Blake placed all the flowers on all the graves. When she finished, she went to the center of the field to where the pot of plastic flowers sat, perhaps for years, untouched by man but ravaged by nature. There she sat. Yang sat behind her and bowed her head.

"... Hi guys... been a while. I'm sorry I haven't visited. You know... kinda hard to come when you have to travel around."

Blake had always been the quiet one on the team. She never really spoke unless she had something to say. Yang felt some surprise in how Blake just talked she was talking to herself. This was something Ruby did a lot and Weiss on occasion, but Blake? Even though Yang knew that Blake was speaking to the souls of the departed, just hearing her speak without getting a reply was... different.

"I'm sure you guys heard that I left the group. It's just... the group has never been the same since that day 4 years ago. They changed... everybody changed. I... changed. I... did things for the group that I can't be proud of. Some of you... some of you might feel ashamed of me. I can't blame you if you did..."

A tear came down her cheek.

"I did those things because of what happened that day. I thought that... we didn't have a choice, that what happened that day was... the last straw. That peace through peace was impossible. Only... peace through force. I ended up believing that... and in the process..."

A second tear.

"I..."

A third tear. Blake pushed herself up and wiped her face as she walked towards the cliff edge, staring off into the blue horizon beyond. Yang did not follow. She just sat there and looked around the field at the Faunus graves. It was here that it hit her. A memory of the not so distant past.

"Blake... 4 years ago I remember watching on the news... that there was this big Faunus rebellion in northeast Vale. I remember... was it 50? 50 armed Faunus supposedly attacked a cargo ship co-owned by Atlas and the Schnee Dust Company. There was a big fight and almost a hundred people were either hurt or killed. I heard that... all 50 Faunus died in the battle..."

"Battle? I think you mean a massacre."

Blake sat down on the cliff edge as the salty sea wind blew on her now disheveled hair. Yang got up and, giving a deep respectful bow to the graves around her, sat beside Blake.

"4 years ago... we tried to organize a big rally in this city. Back then Atlas and the SDC were more... more notorious in the way they overworked and underpaid Faunus. During that time the group had sprouted up everywhere. We were getting noticed. The media, human governments, everybody knew who we were. How our rally cry for equality resonated not only with our fellow Faunus but with people who were... sympathetic to our cause."

Blake picked up a dandelion beside her. Plucking on the top, she let each tiny floret get blown away into the winds above and below them.

"We wanted this one here, against the strongest military and the largest corporation on Remnant, to be the one that would change everything. We wanted to be heard. This was the one that would galvanize the attention of the world. I believed that everything good would start from that day. On that day I arrived in this city to... change Remnant. We came here to to be heard... not become martyrs..."

Blake crushed the remaining dandelion florets in her hand, and dropped it on the cliff below.

"We weren't only 50. We were... a hundred? Two hundred? We assembled in front of the port with our placards and megaphones. We were shouting to high heavens at the dock workers. Everyone chanted in unison, demanding better pay and better worker's rights. We were filled with high hopes and pride that day, that we would be heard, and we would not back down until we were. Eventually SDC guards and Atlas robots cordoned off the area and led the crowd of onlookers away. We were afraid, but we refused to cowed."

Blake lay back on the weedy grass as her legs dangled over the cliff.

"And then... it happened."

She closed her eyes, as if to help remember a deep-seated memory.

"I heard a scream, then what... sounded like a gunshot. Another scream. And then... a torrent of loud explosions that deafened my ears. It lasted all of 10 seconds and then... silence... darkness. I couldn't remember a thing after that. All I knew that for 10 seconds I couldn't understand what was happening around me. It was 10 seconds of screaming mixed with deafening gunfire. After that... deafening silence. Blinding darkness."

Yang lay back on the grass as well and tried to give Blake a hug. Blake pushed Yang and turned away from her, lying on her side.

"I woke up in the hospital. A nurse was bandaging my ear. Beside me, sitting on a chair... was Adam. He... told me what happened. He said that 50 Faunus were killed when SDC and Atlas guards opened fire on an otherwise peaceful protest. He told me that... that they blocked off the roads to prevent witnesses. I turned on the TV and the news said that there was a Faunus attack on the port... that the White Fang tried to start a rebellion."

"... the SDC owns many news outlets and they were first on the scene. I'm not surprised that they tried to cover up this... this atrocity. But..."

"This sad excuse for a cemetery? Yang... there may be 50 graves here, but not all have a body in them. Atlas... they made off with the bodies that were too... mangled by gunfire. I guess they thought it wouldn't look like a fight if a corpse was riddled with bullets. The bodies you saw on TV? They were the lucky ones. At least they can rest in relative peace here. We don't even know what happened to the rest..."

Yang turned around a faced away from Blake, with her back leaning on Blake's back. She didn't want to show her face. The stories of the past few days, hidden histories and truths a human-dominated world had tried to sweep under the rug, had started to get to her. History really was written by the victors. Often times upon the corpses of the defeated.

"The bodies we could recover, we buried here. The survivors of the massacre tried their best but eventually we had to flee the city. Very few Faunus remained in this city after that, even less now, so no one really takes care of this place. Even more so with the way Atlas and the SDC tried to... change the truth."

Blake slowly turned around on her other side and, in an instant, buried her face on Yang's back. Yang could feel a wetness on the back of her shirt. She knew what was happening.

"This place... is a place that doesn't exist. Forgotten. Few people know and even fewer care. Heh... it's rather ironic you know."

Blake wiped her face on Yang's shirt. She stood up and stared off into the far horizon yet again. The horizon had started to glow a soft orange and the sun slowly descended beyond view. Crickets started chirping. Flocks of seagulls began flying back to their nests that dotted the cliffside. The sea breeze had started to slow.

"In this place that doesn't exist, the White Fang was reborn. Many of our senior leaders who were in support of peace died on that day. Without them at the helm, the more... radical figures of the group took control. Citing the barbarism and monstrosity of humans on this day, they rallied everyone with battle cry of peace through force. That on this day humanity showed its hatred for us, and the only way for us to survive was to fight back. To claim what was rightfully ours."

Blake unsheathed Gambol Shroud and stared at her reflection on the blade's surface. She took particular notice of the contracted scar on her right ear, a reminder of what had transpired on that day.

"I... was not immune to the rhetoric. The emotion. I was swept up along with everyone else. I had spent my life seeing the brutality of humans, and on the day I stood in this field 4 years ago it dawned on me that, perhaps, fighting really was the only way."

Blake pointed her sword at the setting sun to the west and, with the grace of a cat, flourished her sword with wide sweeping motions before sheathing it again.

"On the day we left this city, it was just me and Adam on this field. That pot of plastic flowers in the center was all I could get. On the way back to our car... I asked Adam to teach me how to fight. That was also the first... and only time I ever saw him smile."

Yang, trying to digest everything she heard, sat back up and started dropping rocks into the sea below.

"When me and Ruby were young we... asked our parents to teach us how to fight. Not because we had to had to, but because we wanted to. We were idealistic little kids growing up on stories of our parent's adventures as hunters. You... you were forced into it because you felt like you had no choice..."

Yang stood up and placed her hand on Blake's shoulder. Blake looked at her as Yang flashed a wide smile.

"No one can blame you for that. You did what you had to. All of us... we all have to do what we need to survive."

Blake took Yang's hand off her shoulder and clasped it between hers as she looked Yang straight in the eye.

"Would things have been different if... if I didn't take the path of the sword? Better maybe?"

"If you didn't then you wouldn't have made it into Beacon and you wouldn't have become friends with Weiss, Ruby, the guys and gals of JNPR and... me."

Yang took back her hand and gave Blake a big Yang hug.

"That's kind of sad to think about... don't you think?"

Yang pulled back and smiled again at Blake. Blake, who had been wrestling with her emotions the moment they stepped onto the grounds, also gave a weak smile.

"Yeah... you're right."

"Of course I am! Now come on, it's getting dark. We still need to find a place to stay for the ni- oh wait before we go..."

As the two girls headed back to the entrance, Yang stood in the middle of the field behind the plastic flowers and clasped her hands in prayer.

 _Receive in tranquility and peace the souls of your servants._

 _Who have departed this life to come to you._

 _Grant them rest and place them in the place of light_

 _The abode of blessed spirits._

 _Give them life that will not age_

 _Good things that will not pass_

 _Joy that will have no end._

"Yang... what was..."

"An old prayer my mother found in an old ruin she found. Apparently in ancient times people prayed for the souls of their dearly departed to find a place in an afterlife that, for them, is a place of paradise. It's the least I could."

"I... thank you... Yang."

"Sorry. Heh. I was never really good at things like this. Anyway... let's go."

Both girls looked back at the graves and bowed deeply.

"One day... things will change."


	6. I Shot The Sheriff

"So… what's this called? Chamomile?"

Blake poured Yang a hot cup of tea from a portable kettle. Sitting on a picnic table on a highway rest stop, the girls decided to take a break from the 3 hour drive that started from the northern coast all the way to the northern base of the central mountain range. It was a chilly middle of the morning that wasn't as cold as the high altitudes of the mountains but cold enough to cause some misty frosting on the car's windshield. The rest stop was a somewhat popular place for travelers seeking to go up and around to northern edge of the continent in order to avoid the more demanding high altitude routes through the center of the continent's eastern land mass. It was situated in the middle of a forest in the more temperate regions, with coniferous trees lining the sky shedding a multicolored array of leaves on the ground. The highway route was busy this time of year for travelling families as many schools were closed for vacation.

Sipping her tea, Blake took note of the children running around playing while their parents talked on the benches about their respective trips. As a highly wooded and slightly isolated area to the north, this place had a relatively higher population of Grimm. The stop itself had a tall watch tower in the center. She saw a pair of sword wielding hunters, a human male and a Faunus female, chatting just beside a food stall, probably on their break. They were, in fact, holding hands.

"Yeah. Gives the tea a better fragrance. Actually… Yang I-"

"Was wondering what jobs to take after graduation? You've been staring at those hunters for a while."

Blake blushed in embarrassment. She, in fact, been wondering exactly what kind of jobs she'll end up taking when she graduated. She had never even tried asking herself that question since she entered Beacon almost on a whim. This was the first time she had really, really thought about where to put her skills to good use.

"I guess I was kind of the same. Idolized my dad and uncle Qrow for their work since I was a kid. I never really asked myself what kind of hunter I wanted to be. You know… the kind who just protects people, the ones who go out on Grimm culling missions, heck maybe even teach."

"Troublemaker kid growing up?"

"Yeah, but I learned my lesson after that whole disaster with Ruby on the trolley in the woods I swear!"

Both girls had a laugh that mixed with the laughter of playing children. Yang got up to buy some hotdogs at the stall as Blake stared at the kids. One of them was a child with cat ears just like hers, playing and laughing with her human friend who was probably around her age. She was holding a small plastic sword and was trying to hit her playmate with it. Blake then had started daydreaming about herself and what kind of hunter she wanted to be.

It was a fine image up until the point where, inside her own head, she would suddenly hear a scream followed by the sound of a man regurgitating blood and his own mangled innards. There appeared in her mind a small girl, desperately trying to claw herself away from Blake's feet. A dark shadow enveloped the girls face as she tried to get away from Blake, who found herself holding Gambol Shroud which was dripping with blood. A cold sweat dropped down the side of her face.

"Blake? Blake!"

Snapped back to her senses, Blake found herself holding a hotdog in a bun that Yang had just handed her. Yang sat beside her and looked her in the face with a worried expression

"Hey you okay? Is this another one of your 'remembering bad memories' moments?"

"Gah. I guess it's getting quite obvious these days."

"Well you've been having a LOT of those since we left Vale, for obvious reasons."

Blake took a bite of her hotdog. The smoky sour taste of mustard. Her ears curled as the taste went down her throat. She never really liked mustard but had neglected to tell her partner about it. It would be a waste to throw it away so she decided to tough it out.

"Sorry. I never really thought about what kind of hunter I wanted to be. I never really… trained to protect people. I was trained to be more… proactive with my skills."

"Even with a Semblance like yours?"

"Proactive in the sense of striking first rather than second. My Semblance was for… you know, when it was time to get away."

Tea with a mustard-laden hotdog was, surprisingly, a good combination. The bitterness of the tea helped cleanse the sourness of mustard that overstayed its welcome on Blake's tongue.

"Plus… yeah… my skills never really gives the impression that I was protecting anyone. Guess that's what I should've expected given who trained me."

Blake sat back and leaned her back her back on the table. Yang looked on at the playing children. The little Faunus girl was hitting her friend who was a blonde human boy. He had his fists up and trying to block the girl's stick while trying to return playful punches on her. The two were laughing and shouting the whole time. After a while their parents called both kids back into their car as they prepared to leave.

"What exactly… did you do with your training?"

Blake took a deep breath, as she often does when she's about to start a story.

"Like I said, I learned from Adam and other fighters in the White Fang. Since it was the time we chose to take up arms, a lot of us started combat training. Around that time was when my Semblance started to take form. I honed and focused my Semblance. There weren't a lot of people in the White Fang who really had aura's good enough for fighting, so there wasn't a lot of us who could really be the prime fighters in the group."

Blake poured herself another cup of tea and took the last bite of her hotdog.

"I really liked swords. Don't know why but out of all the weapons I tried I performed the best with them. Plus they worked well with my Semblance. I wasn't really the type to go head to head with people, and we as a group focused more on... being in the shadows, so a lot of my training went to more covert fighting styles."

"Ooohhh like a secret agent!"

"Err yeah something like that… I guess?"

Yang had a slightly starry-eyes look on her face. She had a romanticized notion of secret agents infiltrating evil organizations with style and charm and taking them down from inside with class. She read a bit of those stories growing up. Reality was however quite different, especially upon remembering how the White Fang typically operates. It took a while for her realize exactly what Blake meant by her being in the shadows.

"Wait... you weren't like... an assassin or something right?"

Blake put down her tea and looked Yang straight in the eye. Yang could feel the weight of her stare bear down on her, not knowing if she had just insulted her, or her if her choice of words dug a memory deep in Blake she shouldn't have poked at.

"... Yang... have you ever... killed anybody?"

Blake spoke with a straight, almost deadpan expression. Yang could feel her blood chill like someone had injected ice in her veins. This was the first time she could feel a menacing atmosphere emanate from her partner. Yang fidgeted, unable to answer the question as she felt the beat of her heart like a drum pounding on her chest.

"... No. I wasn't an assassin. Those were... jobs for the others."

Blake took another sip of her tea as the atmosphere lifted between them. Yang felt like she could breath again as the loud thumping of her heart subsided.

"... No I haven't. Maybe almost, but I always managed to stop myself. I guess some people deserve it but... no that's not me..."

Yang took the last bite of her hotdog. Despite what their conversation ended up being, she wasn't one to easily lose her appetite.

"We had the option to choose what missions we wanted and how we went about them. I refused to kill, simple as that. I always took the more covert missions where I could just knock people out or just sneak around. Never the ones where I really had to fight people... but..."

Blake looked her right hand and clenched it into a fist.

"Sometimes you don't have a choice. When it comes down to it... there's no way around what you have to do..."

"What do you mean?"

"For us, for me, to continue what we were doing in the White Fang... we had to truly believe in what we stood for. What we fought for. Once you start questioning those beliefs... you might as well just quit. It all... started for me the moment I realized what fear truly was."

Blake started to laugh. A cold, forced laugh.

"Heh. It's kind of ironic. Everything I went through, all the things I've seen... all the things I've done... even with all of those it's as if I never knew what it meant to be afraid. For your life, your family, all of those things. The moment when I understood fear... was in the eyes of someone else. A human child. Staring at me as I... gutted a man right in front of her."

A regular person would have dropped a cup they were holding if they heard something like this out of the blue. Not Yang, at least not anymore. She's heard enough about Blake's life not to be shocked anymore. A fact that, as Yang would admit, is rather sad to begin with.

"In a small village not too far from here... there's an Atlas relay tower. 2 years ago I was sent by the group to hack the tower and retrieve some data that was stolen from our servers. There was a human family in the village that was sympathetic to our cause so it was arranged for me to stay with them while I prepared for the mission. That family... they had a little girl. She was... maybe 5 years old at the time."

Blake took out a book from her backpack. Inside was a folded picture of Blake standing beside a young man, woman and a small girl in front of house and garage.

"He was a sympathizer who worked for the Atlas Communications Division, in charge of the relay tower security. He provided me with the guard patrol schedules and the access keys to the site. He was... really enthusiastic about helping me. He told me stories of many of his friends were Faunus and how he was one of the few humans trusted to be an unofficial member. His daughter was the same. An idealistic kid filled with her father's stories of how Faunus were wonderful people and how one day humans and Faunus would live in peace. She said she never met a Faunus before but read a lot about them in books and asked all sorts of questions."

Blake stared at the picture. In it she was kneeling on the ground hugging the little girl. She passed it on to Yang, who was also reminded of the pictures she used to take with her parents right before they would leave on missions.

"Me and the kid bonded almost immediately. Probably... probably because she reminded me so much of myself, you know, if I were a human. The entire day I just ended up telling her all sorts of stories. I arrived in the morning after a whole night of traveling and wanted some rest, since I was planning to get into the tower the very same evening but, you know, kids will be kids."

Blake took back the book and placed it in her bag. The picture she left with Yang who was still admiring it.

"You know... that was the first time since I left the orphanage that I really had the chance to talk with humans again. All those years I was with Faunus almost exclusively, and with it all those stories on how we should never trust humans and be wary around them. Standard propaganda stuff. It really got rather extreme with all the anti-human rhetoric when the group decided to take arms... but..."

Blake poured the last drop of tea into her cup. The air had gotten more chilly as the rest stop started to empty. Most families had already left in order to reach the next town before nightfall. Most of the people left in the stop were couples and single travelers. They were the only pair of girls left by that time.

"Seeing them... seeing how much they helped me and how close they were to each other... they weren't really any different from my family. At least what I could remember. I ate a late breakfast and lunch with them that day before I left for my mission. That evening the town sheriff was on patrol, working on a tip that there was a Faunus in town working for the White Fang. It was probably me, no idea how news of my arrival came to town. To top it all off I didn't even have a weapon with me..."

Blake took out Gambol Shroud. On the base of the scabbard the initials B.B. were inscribed.

"Those initials aren't mine by the way. The girls father, his name was Eric. His best friend was a Faunus. He was the original owner of Gambol Shroud and had the same initials as me. He was a hunter who was famous in these parts. He... died when he refused to use his weapon to defend himself from an angry mob of anti-Faunus activists. He left Eric the sword before he died in the hospital and told him to give it to a Faunus who will someday need it. That's why he gave it to me because I was unarmed... though he wished I wouldn't have to use it. I made him the promise not to use it unless I really need to."

"You know... Ruby always thought you made Gambol Shroud yourself. Didn't think it had such a... history behind it."

"I didn't actually think I was worthy of Eric's friend's weapon, but I needed one now that people were suspicious of a White Fang operative in town. I left the house once he gave me the weapon and told him that I'll be back as soon as possible. That night I headed for the relay tower which... well to be honest it wasn't much a tower as it was a 3 story building with a radio antenna on the roof. Eric had changed the rotation that night so there were only 3 guards on duty. What I thought would be a complex mission I finished in an hour, with enough time to go back and eat dinner with the family. I knocked out the guard in the back and scaled the wall using Gambol Shroud's chain scythe, a weapon I've used in the past. Beats having to come in through the front door. In one fell swoop I was inside the main comm room. 5 minutes inside the comm room and I got back our data. Even managed to swipe some Atlas encryption keys."

"All's well that ends well right? At least you didn't have to use the sword."

Blake sipped the last of the tea. She didn't respond initially, and Blake again picked up that something in this story was about to go wrong. Very wrong.

"And... how I wished that was true... so much..."

Blake crunched the cup she was using and threw it in the trash. At that time the last of the kids in the playground had left, so Blake decided to have a seat in the swings. Yang sat beside her as Blake pushed herself back and forth on the swing set like a little kid.

"Eric's daughter had a swing set in front of their house kinda like this. I was actually expecting her to be playing with her mom by the time I got back from the comm tower... then again..."

Blake stopped swinging almost immediately. Yang for her part was using her swing so wildly that the chains were shaking and she swung back and forth. It took a moment for her to realize that Blake had stopped swinging and had gone silent. She stomped her feet on the ground and went into a full stop that dug her boots into the soil.

"I saw her mom outside alright. She was sitting on the front porch of their house with a bullet hole in her chest."

It was as if the cold air turned to ice. Yang could feel the air pricking and poking on her skin as Blake nonchalantly described the scene of a human mother laying dead in front of their house. Blake went on about hearing a man screaming about Faunus inside the house as she checked for a pulse that was already gone the moment she was hit by the bullet straight into her heart.

"The guy sounded like the town sheriff, and I could only assume that he shot her. I could hear his screaming coming from the second floor, demanding Eric reveal where the White Fang operative was. I also heard Eric telling his daughter to hide. He knew who I was. I don't know how, but he did, and because of that Eric's wife had to pay the price of... the price of my presence."

Blake stood up from the swing set and climbed atop the jungle gym. Yang naturally followed her as both girls let their hair blow with the wind.

"He was alone as far as I could tell. I slowly went up the stairs and saw them both in his bedroom. Eric was on his knees with the sheriff holding a gun to his head. The door was open and the sheriff had his back to me with Eric looking towards the stairs. I could tell he could see me when I made it up. I took out a piece of paper and wrote down a message. I flashed it to him, saying to give me up and they'll be safe. He... didn't follow. He kept refusing to tell him who or where I was. The sheriff told him that they were allowed to use force against anyone helping the White Fang. It wasn't long until the sheriff finally lost patience... and pulled the trigger."

The cold air was now poking holes in Yang. She could feel it burrowing into her skin like her skin was turning to ice.

"Blood gushed out from the hole in his head as he fell to the floor. What was it? Rage, anger... hate? All those emotions boiled in me as I began to remember all the stories of human cruelty told to me by my White Fang mentors. I readied my sword the moment he fired and prepared to draw but... another sound stopped me. A scream. It was her. It came from the bathroom."

A tear came down Blake's cheek and fell down from her face. It froze before it even hit the ground, hitting it with an almost inaudible thud.

"He rushed for the bathroom as I made my way into the bedroom. The girl was hiding under in the closet under the sink. He dragged her out and pointed the gun at her. She was... scared, obviously, but she was also... trying to be brave. She made a tough face as tears streamed down her cheeks. The sheriff tossed her to the wall and demanded answers. She was... as stubborn as her father, and I'd be damned if I was letting her end up like her parents. I was about 10 feet behind him when he pulled back the hammer on his pistol. I rounded the corner ready to knock him out when she saw me. The little girl screamed my name. He turned around and fired. In... a split second my training and instincts kicked in as my semblance took the bullet and... I ran Gambol Shroud clean through his chest."

For a moment its as if time froze for both of them. The leaves stopped falling in midair. The cars seemed to stop in the middle of the road. Water stopped flowing down the fountain. For a second nothing moved, in that pause in Blake's story.

"For a moment I felt... almost happy. An almost elated and sadistic feeling. I... didn't mean to kill him but he deserved it. When I did, when I heard Gambol Shroud rip through his rib cage and straight through his lungs, when I heard his heart beat stop as his body slump on my shoulder... for a moment I felt... satisfied, if only for a moment. And then... a scream. A loud, terrified shriek."

Blake's pupils constricted as she pictured in her head the image forever burned in her mind.

"The little girl looked at me in absolute terror. I saw myself in the mirror as I dropped his corpse on the floor. I was... I was smiling. That image of me smiling after I killed my first person snapped me back to reality. I looked at my hands. They were covered in blood. At that exact moment countless images flashed through my mind. Blood on my hands during that fateful massacre. Blood on my hands from beating up neighborhood bullies. The blood dripping from the bodies of my parents as they hung lifelessly from that tree. All that suffering, that anger, that hatred..."

Blake gripped the steel bars as tight as she could, so hard that it shook the play set. Yang instinctively placed a hand on her shoulder.

"All of those I felt in my life, I saw in her. I... by being there and doing what I did... I did to her what they did to me. And on her face, for the first time... I saw fear. The fear I should have felt as the lynch mob dragged my parents away. The fear I should have felt when Atlas mechs cut down my friends. The fear I should have felt when I ran my sword straight through the sheriff. The fear I never felt... that moment in time I finally felt what had eluded me all those years."

"Blake... you didn't kill her parents, and you saved that girl's life!"

"I... know... but if didn't come to that town they would still be alive. I wouldn't have killed a man. And that girl... she wouldn't have been scarred for life... like me."

Yang tried to reach in for a hug, but Blake evaded it and dropped down from the jungle gym.

"I was a coward. When I came back to my senses I ran from the house. I ran from the village. I ran to the outskirts and climbed up a large tree. I was running on adrenaline and, when I ran out, I just fell asleep. The next morning I called in to HQ and reported everything that happened. When they picked me up a few hours later... I just... tried to put it all in the back of my mind."

"And then... what did you do?"

"... nothing. I just... like I said I put it behind me. I never saw that girl again. I tried to forget, I couldn't but I tried. I just blocked it out until today. I couldn't let it hinder me and my work. Heh. To think I was just as old as Ruby then..."

Blake headed back to the car as Yang jumped down from the play set. The air was getting a bit warmer as more people started arriving in the rest stop. Yang could see the downcast eyes on Blake as she buckled on her seat belt, eyes that had become common on her face for the past few days.

"If you don't mind me asking... what was the girl's name?"

"... Erin. Erin Belvedere...why?"

"Have you, you know, tried contacting her?"

"And open up old wounds? Remind her of the reason she's an orphan? No thank you. I don't even know where she is now... don't even know if she's okay..."

Despite all the tea they drank, Blake was fast asleep seconds after getting in her seat. Yang had already pulled into the highway when she noticed her partner purring in her seat. She saw this as her best chance as she pulled out her phone.

"Weiss? How's Rose?... she's awake? Wow... thank goodness. Thank you for taking care of her I really appreciate it. Listen ummm... I need another favor. Your company works closely with Atlas right? I... need some info on the location of the daughter of a... deceased Atlas employee. It's for Blake..."

Blake mumbled in her sleep, apparently half awake, but unable to hear what Yang was talking about on her phone. Yang navigated down the twists and turns of the forested highway while talking to Weiss. Blake was simply too exhausted emotionally to pay any mind.

"... where exactly? Let me check on the car's navigator... wait... wow the town's actually pretty close by. Thanks Weiss. Say hi to my sister for me!"

Yang put the car into high gear as Blake again fell into a deep sleep. Leaves made soft thumping sounds as they fell on the roof and windshield. Yang quietly hummed to herself as her partner lay on her reclined car seat. For an hour after that the car was essentially silent as it weaved through the north of the continent. The tall hardwood trees in this area was protected by the government as mass deforestation had reduced much of the continent's prized hardwood trees, with the central mountain range being the only area where tree cutting for lumber was still allowed. The trees became progressively shorter as Yang drove on, signalling that they were about to exit the forest. It would only be a few more minutes before Yang would start seeing grey smoke billowing from the stone chimneys in a small rural town a few miles away. Yang looked in her phone for the details that Weiss had sent her as she parked the car by a small house.

"Rise and shine kitty!"

Yang incessantly poked Blake on the cheek to get her up. She tossed around in her seat before she finally stretched her arms.

"... wow... how long was I out... where are we?"

She looked outside the passenger side window. A dozen houses sitting along an intersection and a stream a few meters off the main highway exit. At the center was a refueling station with a large antenna, a small grocery doubling as a convenience store, and a small mechanic's garage. It was quite literally a small town in the middle of nowhere that was basically like the rest stop they were in, only with people actually living there.

"This is where she lives now. Erin."

Blake's eyes narrowed as a scowl emerged from her face.

"...Goddammit Yang... I didn't tell you one of my darkest secrets just for you to drag me back into it. Can we please get out of here?"

As Blake raised her voice, and this she rarely does, Yang tossed her Scroll onto Blake's lap.

"Just read this first, then decide what you want to do."

Blake picked up the Scroll. On it was a local newspaper article about a human girl, aged 7, who was helping set up a small halfway house for local Faunus with her adoptive Faunus family. It was in the town they were in. Reading on Blake learned it had become an issue as it was unheard off for a Faunus family to adopt orphaned humans. The article itself stated that the young Faunus couple were friends of the girl's deceased parents. Yang slowly drove the car to the last and largest house by the end of the street as Blake read on. Outside the 3 story house were a pair of old Faunus men cutting the lawn as a young gingerly Faunus woman came and brought them some cold drinks. Yang parked the car on the opposite side of the street.

"Two years is a long time for someone that age. Do you think she'd be able to live with a Faunus family, much less help with taking care of strangers, if she had come to hate them for what happened?"

Blake couldn't even muster a response as she stared out the window.

"Blake... the last time she saw you was when you stormed off after saving her life. I can't disregard the horrors that little kid saw that day... but do you think she could live in a peaceful place like this if she wasn't able to deal with it?"

Still no answer.

"You said so yourself, you felt like the two of you were very much alike. If she really is, then I think she's been able to live with herself two years from then. Just like you when you lived in that orphanage. I think it's time for both of you to put some closure to what had happened that day, or at least put both of you towards it."

No answer.

"Look... I won't blame you if you don't want to. If you can't, or won't, then I'll drive us on out of here. You'll never have to see her again."

Yang and Blake sat in the car with a near deafening silence between them. Yang, thinking that Blake was adamant, readied to drive them back to the highway. Before she could shift the car into first gear, Blake clumsily got out of the car and approached the young woman outside.

"Umm... excuse me? Miss?"

"Yes? Can I help you?"

"Does... does Erin Belvedere live here?"

The young woman had a slight hint of suspicion in the corner of her eye as she looked at Blake from top to bottom. Blake had the foresight to leave her weapon in the car.

"Yes she does. You are?"

"A friend of her father's. Eric. May I... see here?"

The young woman, feeling a sense of kindness from Blake, called for young Erin from inside the house. After a few moments a young girl, wearing a yellow dress and holding a black and white cat Faunus doll that itself was holding a sword, stood at the doorway. There, the young girl and Blake stared at each other for what must have felt like an eternity. In reality it lasted for barely two seconds.

In an instant the young girl dropped her doll and ran towards Blake, hugging her waist with tears streaming down her face. Blake, finally realizing what the last 2 years meant fro both of them, got down on one knee and hugged her back. Tears streaming down her face.


End file.
